The pizza king is dead. Long live the pizza king.
The Greenwich Village storefront that for decades housed the iconic Famous Ray’s Pizza at Sixth Avenue and West 11th Street will be the new home of another New York pizza legend — Famous Original Ray’s Pizza.
Just months ago, Famous Original Ray’s sued Famous Ray’s over false advertising and unfair competition for not only calling itself Ray’s but for also saying it was famous.
It turns out that the Famous Original Ray’s franchise, with more than a dozen shops across the city, owns trademarks for the names Ray’s Pizza, Famous Ray’s Pizza and Famous Original Ray’s Pizza.
The chain retains that benefit even though its umbrella group, the USA Famous Original Ray’s Licensing Corp., a collection of various Ray’s restaurants, only formed in 1991.
The Manhattan federal court filing charged that Famous Ray’s, owned by an outfit called Max Brothers Pizza, used “deceptive and misleading conduct” to eat away at the real Rays’ “goodwill, customer base [and] market share.”
Now Famous Original Ray’s is moving into the Famous Ray’s space, and it’s starting to get messier than a four-topping pizza.
“The fight between these two over a name is amazing,” said longtime West Village resident Lucie Gauthier, 60. “We really don’t know which one is which! It’s just confusing.”
She hopes the new place will bake a pie the way she likes it.
“We’re really sad to see them go,” Gauthier said. “Their pizza was so good. It was like real New York pizza, thick and cheesy. And you could just grab a slice and go.”
Neither restaurant’s owner could be reached for comment.
The proliferation of Ray’s has become part of New York City lore, with pizza lovers needing a score card to go along with their red-pepper flakes.
The inside joke figured in an episode of “Seinfeld,” with a lost Kramer on the phone describing where he was by saying, “I’m looking at Ray’s Pizza. You know where that is?”
“Is it Famous Ray’s?” Jerry asks.
“No, it’s Original Ray’s,” Kramer replies.
The actual original Ray’s Pizza, on Prince Street in Little Italy, opened in 1959 and closed in October after a landlord dispute.
Famous Ray’s Pizza
Operated at Sixth Avenue and West 11th Street since the 1960s; the eatery,owned by Max Brothers Pizza, washit with a$1million lawsuit accusing it of false advertising and unfair competition and went belly up in October. Famous Original Ray’s will soon be moving into the space.
Famous Original
Ray’s Pizza More than a dozen locations across the city; the chain is a corporation formed in 1991 by owners of various Ray’s restaurants.
Not Ray’s
Pizza Fulton Street, Brooklyn. The Fort Greene eatery cashes in on the joke.
Ray’s Pizza
The actual original Ray’s, at 27 Prince St. in Little Italy; opened in 1959 by Ralph Cuomo, who briefly operated asecond shop near East 59th Street but sold it to someone who kept the name. The Little Italy shop closed in October after arent dispute with its landlord.