Gothamist
A non-profit newsroom, powered by WNYC.
Gothamist
Listen Live
Food
The Hunt For The <em>Real</em> Original Ray's Pizza
By
Garth Johnston
Published Sep 27, 2011
Modified Sep 27, 2011
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
Never miss a story
Email address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .
By
Garth Johnston
Published Sep 27, 2011
Modified Sep 27, 2011
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
We rely on your support to make local news available to all
Make your contribution now and help Gothamist thrive in 2026. Donate today
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
With news breaking this month the Ray's Pizza on Prince Street could soon be closing (erm, maybe) and lawsuits between various Ray's Pizzas a regular occurrence, the good folks at Slice decided to dig into some old phone books and try to definitively say which Ray's has reigned the longest. The short answer? The Ray's on Prince. But the long story (which shouldn't be confused with who has the oldest pizzeria) is a little more complicated than that.
Here's the important fact: Ralph Cuomo and his partners opened Ray's Pizzeria on Prince Street in 1959. At the time it was the only pizzeria in Manhattan with the name Ray...but it wasn't the first. According to Slice's Scott Wiener, there is evidence of at least two that had come (and gone) before then. The genesis of the Prince Street name is a bit odd but it appears that Cuomo (who had himself some serious mob connections) simply felt that "Ralph was too feminine." (He also later claimed that Ray was a nickname people called him). Still, by the phone books, the Ray's on Prince is pretty clearly the patient zero for the outbreak of Ray's that then smothered our city for decades.
Five years after Cuomo and co. opened their first Ray's, they opened a second one at 1073 First Avenue, which they quickly sold to a man named Frances Giaimo who then sold it to a man named Rosolino Mangano. And with Mangano Ray's were never the same. At first Mangano "gave ambitious family members and immigrants the opportunity to run his stores, resulting in the creation of a mini-chain" but soon enough former employees figured out they could call their own pizza joints variations on the Ray's name. In 1973 The Famous Ray's Pizza on the corner of 6th Avenue and 11th Street opened (owner Mario DiRienzo said Ray was a nickname from his town in Italy), which led Mangano to change his restaurant's name to Original Ray's Pizza in 1976. In the 1980s Mangano renamed his joints Famous Original Ray's and filed for a trademark...which he then used in a series of lawsuits that continue to this day.
So now you know: the actual "original" Ray's in New York pizza is just plain old Ray's, not Original Ray's or Famous Ray's or Ray Bari or Famous Original Ray's. Now head over there and grab a hot slice of history, before it's too late.
Tagged
history
manhattan
pizza
pizza history
ray's
Garth Johnston
Read more
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
MORE food
North African restaurants are rare in NYC. These 10 are the best.
Egyptian, Moroccan, Algerian and Tunisian food is delicious but underrepresented in the city.
By
Robert Sietsema
Published Oct 10, 2026
10 dishes that demonstrate the delicious diversity of curry in New York City
The global dish is shapeshifting and ubiquitous.
By
Robert Sietsema
Food
10 dishes that demonstrate the delicious diversity of curry in New York City
The global dish is shapeshifting and ubiquitous.
By
Robert Sietsema
Frozen yogurt is back in New York City. So are the super long lines.
By
Sonia Rao
5 NYC banana puddings as good as Magnolia's
By
Hannah Frishberg
Where to eat in Greenpoint, Brooklyn right now, from Polish to Sichuan to Iberian
By
Robert Sietsema
Never miss a story
Catch up on the most important headlines with a roundup of essential NYC stories, delivered to your inbox daily.
Sign upEmail address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .