Ray's Pizza, and its many variations such as "Ray's Original Pizza", "Famous Ray's Pizza" and "World-Famous Original Ray's Pizza", are the names of dozens of

pizzerias A pizzeria is a restaurant focusing on pizza. A pizzeria may offer take-away, where the customer orders their food either in advance or at the restaurant and then takes the prepared food with them in a pizza box. A pizzeria may deliver food to ...

in the

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

area that are generally completely independent (a few have multiple locations) but may have similar menus, signs, and logos.

History

Ralph Cuomo opened the first Ray's Pizza, at 27 Prince Street in

Little Italy Little Italy is the catch-all name for an ethnic enclave populated primarily by Italians or people of Italian ancestry, usually in an Urban area, urban neighborhood. The concept of "Little Italy" holds many different aspects of the Italian cul ...

, in 1959, named after his nickname "Raffie". In the 1960s, he briefly owned a second Ray's Pizza, but sold it to Rosolino Mangano in 1964. Mangano kept the name and later claimed that his was the first. In 1973, Mario Di Rienzo named his new pizzeria Ray's Pizza (which is now closed), claiming it was based on the nickname for his family in Italy. Also that year, Joseph Bari purchased a pizzeria from Mangano and renamed it and several others as Ray Bari Pizza. By 1991, dozens of pizzerias in New York City had "Ray's" in their name, as well as those in other American states. In 1981, Gary Esposito purchased a pizzeria from Mangano. After opening several more "Original Ray's" restaurants, he partnered with Cuomo and Mangano to combine independent "Ray's" restaurants into an official franchise chain. there were at least 49 restaurants by some variant of that name in the New York City

telephone directory A telephone directory, commonly called a telephone book, telephone address book, phonebook, or the white and yellow pages, is a listing of telephone subscribers in a geographical area or subscribers to services provided by the organization tha ...

, including one named Not Ray's Pizza. The first Ray's Pizza closed its doors on Sunday, October 30, 2011, following a legal dispute over rent and a lease that followed its owner's death in 2008. Half of the space that once housed Ray's Pizza has been leased to a new company, Prince Street Pizza. Meanwhile, Famous Ray's Pizza on

Sixth Avenue Sixth Avenue, also known as Avenue of the Americas, is a major thoroughfare in the New York City borough of Manhattan. The avenue is commercial for much of its length, and traffic runs northbound, or uptown. Sixth Avenue begins four blocks b ...

and 11th Street, which had served pizza since the 1970s, closed down in 2011, reopened under the name "Famous Roio's Pizza" in 2012, and closed again in 2013. A Chinese restaurant occupied the space; however, it shut down in 2023. As of 2024, a new pizzeria has been opened in that space, called Roma Pizza.

References

External links

* {{cite web , url=https://www.wnyc.org/story/cats-dogs-andpizza/ , title=Cats, Dogs and...Pizza , work= The Next Big Thing , publisher=

WNYC WNYC is an audio service brand, under the control of New York Public Radio, a non-profit organization. Radio and other audio programming is primarily provided by a pair of nonprofit, noncommercial, public radio stations: WNYC (AM) and WNYC- ...

, date=December 15, 2002 , access-date=February 16, 2010 , url-status=live , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100223184019/http://www.wnyc.org/shows/tnbt/episodes/2002/12/15 , archive-date=February 23, 2010 Italian-American culture in New York City Pizzerias in New York City Restaurants established in 1959 1959 establishments in New York City

History

See also

References

External links