Ray’s Famous, Original…

KRAMER: I miss home, and I don’t even know how to get there.

JERRY: What’s around you?

KRAMER: I’m lookin’ at Ray’s Pizza. You know where that is?

JERRY: Is it Famous Ray’s?

KRAMER: No. It’s Original Ray’s.

JERRY: Famous Original Ray’s?

KRAMER: It’s just Original, Jerry!

Ray’s Pizza, Ray’s Famous Pizza, Ray’s Original Famous Pizza. You will find plenty of Pizzerias in New York matching any of these name combinations. It was not until a recent visit that I learned that almost all varieties of “Ray’s” are independently owned and operated. Even one’s with matching names are not necessarily affiliated.

What is the story behind the Ray name? Well after some digging it appears that a Travel Channel documentary “Pizza Wars: New York vs. Chicago” attempts to answer this question. It claims that Ray’s was started by one Ralph Como of Little Italy in 1929. This is around the time Pizza fist hit New York, whoever gets credit for the first Ray’s gets credit for the first person to bring pizza to New York and probably the US. Shortly after Ray’s and variations on the name started appearing on every block in Manhattan. According to a count from the phone book, there are currently 47 Ray’s in the Manhattan area, most of them bearing no affiliation to any other.

I have found a few other stories here and there that claim the first Ray’s was opened by a Ray Lombardi who also owned a restaurant in Little Italy called… Lombardi’s.

My guess is the original Ray is buried with Jimmy Hoffa in the end zone at Giant’s Stadium.