I went to an “Original” Ray’s pizzeria today, and it got me thinking. How do I know this ISN’T the real Original Ray’s? What’s the story behind that place anyway? Who was Ray and why does everyone want you to think he’s making your pizza?
I’ve been assured it’s the one on Sixth avenue around 12th street. The NY TIMES actually wrote a long article untangling the history of Ray and his pizza several years ago, but I’ve got the cite in my office. I’ll get it after the weekend, if you like.
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=100681&highlight=pizza+original
A previous thread about this.
I went to one that I thought was the only one, in Soho, about '79. Sorry, I don’t know Manhattan - maybe the above address is where I was…
The one at 6th Ave / 12th Street gets my vote, too. Damn good pizza in 1984, although by then the island was rife with “Original Ray’s Pizza” joints; but this one had crumbling yellowed new columns on the wall, including the story of London college students actually collecting money and flying to and from Manhattan on a translatlantic pizza run. So it already had a reputation long enough before 1984 for the reputation to have inspired that pizza run enough years prior for the newsprint to have gotten crumbly. (They still have the article on the wall now, but it’s a xerox copy nowadays).
pseudotriton, I’d like to read that article!
So? My Original cite wan’t good enough for you?
The PRI radio program The Next Big Thing had a segment on this very topic last December:
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The radio segment is online…it’s pretty funny, but doesn’t give us a definitive answer. Give it a listen, if you have RealAudio.