How much is that doggy in the window? On Saturday, August 3, it’s 50 cents, according to a new sign posted at Gray’s Papaya on the corner of 72nd and Broadway.
“Join us as we celebrate over 50 years in business with balloons, giveaways, and 50-cent hot dogs all day!” reads the window signage. Founded in 1973, Gray’s Papaya has been a fixture at 2090 Broadway ever since.
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In May 2023, Nicholas Gray, the founder of Gray’s Papaya, passed away from “complications from Alzheimer’s disease,” according to his daughter Natasha in a New York Times story.
Gray, born in Valparaiso, Chile in 1937, was an immigrant to the US. In an Instagram post honoring his legacy, Gray was described as a New York City icon who’s “the sweetest, funniest, most eccentric boss, father, husband, and brother.” It also thanked him for the countless lives he brightened, one Recession Special at a time.
Gray’s Papaya previously operated outlets in Greenwich Village from 1987 to 2014 and had two locations on Eighth Avenue in Midtown, with the last one closing in 2021. This makes their Upper West Side location the “old reliable.”
ALSO READ (via East Side Feed): Papaya King Returns to the Upper East Side!
Before establishing Gray’s Papaya, Nicholas Gray had a franchise agreement with Papaya King at their 72nd Street location, which he ran for two years before taking the business private and renaming it Gray’s Papaya. Previously, he worked as a stockbroker on Wall Street but was dissatisfied with his career. Gray developed an affinity for Papaya King, finding the tropical juices reminiscent of his homeland in Chile, while the classic hot dogs appealed to his taste for Americana.
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Gray’s Papaya’s Recession Special, currently priced at $7.50 plus tax for two franks and a medium tropical drink, has long been a favorite among locals and tourists alike. Don’t miss their three-dollar breakfast special, which includes coffee and a breakfast sandwich with bacon, sausage, or ham.
Gray’s Papaya is now managed by Rachel Gray, Nicholas Gray’s second wife.
What used to actually be “recession-proof” at $1.99 for more than a decade, $2.99 for half that time, and then a slow advance by a $1 every year-and-a-half from $3.99 — you could occasionally see the great Regis Philbin grabbing his “dogs” — up to the current $8.17. That’s the current price including tax that, btw NEVER used to be added in the $1.99-$4.99 era: the price posted was the price you paid. Alll of this has led Gray’s Papaya to the edge of a cliff. No one is saying that prices shouldn’t increase over time but, really, when you consider the chemical additives, artificial ingredients, preservatives, emulsifiers[ and the source of the meat, e.g. hooves, ears, tails, snout and worse that go into making these “dirty dogs” I’m amazed we pay anything more than $1 per frank. And the drinks are almost 50% froth and air. At any rate, let me stave off the “If you don’t want to pay price-gouging Gray’s Papaya prices, then don’t go” responses. I don’t any more and that’s because the franks don’t taste like they used to….someone messed with the formula and they just taste weird and the mustard and sauerkraut no longer mask it. They’re smaller too. Both ends used to extend beyond the roll by well over an inch.
Hooves? I understand the other beyond-offal ingredients, but hooves? I want proof, Mister.
Yeah, I remember the $1.99 special, 2 dogs and a drink. In my younger and more vulnerable years, I got my dogs with everything on them. Maybe that’s why I never tasted the hooves! But to say that the papaya or any other drink there reminded Mr. Gray’s of Chile’s tropical drinks . . . Gazoom, I snorted out my Trader Jose’s lager out me nostrils when I read that. I sipped that foamy drink only once, and after that, they just went into the garbage can.
I’m so eager to rush over there for my scrumptious, 50-cent veggie-dog!
Oh, wait….