Ugh! Two Bucks A Slice

Posted by Adam Kuban, June 3, 2004 at 12:44 AM

I'm a reluctant fan of Curtis & Kuby. I started listening to them accidentally upon moving to New York City, falling asleep to the paranoid alien-abduction stories on Coast to Coast AM with Art Bell (now hosted by George Noory). The radio, still tuned to WABC 770-AM from the night before, would wake me the next morning, and I'd listen to the right-wing Guardian Angels leader and the left-wing defense attorney do the whole liberal vs. conservative thing with a rapport that was actually entertaining.

Anyway, it was on this show last year that I first heard the theory, expounded upon by Mr. Sliwa, that subway fares followed the price of a slice of pizza. (That is, when fares were $1.50, the average price of a slice was also $1.50.) Around the time of the fare hike, Curtis argued that rides simply couldn't go up because slices were still anywhere from $1.50 to $1.75. It was a clever observation at the time and is one of the most insightful things Curtis has ever said.

Well, Curtis: No more. The Daily News reports that the average price of a New York slice is now $2.

Why so much? The record-high prices for milk have driven up mozzarella prices, too. And pizza-price hikes have driven some to what we here at Slice deem madness:

"I'll make my own at home, using ketchup and English muffins, before I pay $2 a slice," fumed Manhattan pizza fan Bev Astro. "Pizza should be a buck fifty, a buck seventy-five, tops."

But some folks (who Slice feel more akin to) liken it to smoking:

For pizza aficionados like Rusty Granger of Glendale, Queens, the food that made Ray's famous is like cigarettes: a habit you can't kick, at any price.

"I gotta have my slice - thin crust, double cheese, a sprinkle of garlic," said Granger. "Even if it costs me $5 a slice, I gotta have it."

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