Life in New York City is becoming hard, very hard.
Incomes are yielding to gravity while prices are constantly defying it.
Shelters in NYC for the homeless are full.
And life for the 99%, the unfortunate have-nots (a.k.a. the non-Mitt Romneys) is an unending, futile struggle.
Sliding Pizza Slices in NYC
Thank God, at least the price of a pizza slice is sliding down.
Well, at least in some NYC pizza places.
Finally, something to cheer about in this dreadful economy for the 99%.
Bombay Fast Food – Story of an NYC Slice
Bombay Fast Food on 6th Ave (between W.37th St and W.38th St) is a strange beast.
An unusual combination of an Indian restaurant and pizza place, the shabby, cramped restaurant is owned by a Gujarati and staffed by Bangladeshis.
Bombay Fast Food is one of dozens of places in New York City that sell pizza by the slice.
Dirt Cheap NYC for the 99% presents the photo-story of crashing pizza slice prices at Bombay Fast Food and my crumbling resistance over the last 20 months.
November 2010 – $1.49 Pizza Slice at Bombay Fast Food
November, 2010.
I still remember the day clearly.
Early for my appointment, I was dragging my feet down 6th Avenue to meet a well-heeled friend from a third-world country staying at the pricey Casablanca Hotel in Times Square.
It was around 2PM and I was hungry.
My eyes fell on the signboard of Bombay Fast Food.
Hungry as I was, much as I was tempted and despite the pitiful bellows from my stomach, I resisted the $1.49 pizza slice as I felt the price was daylight robbery.
My sixth sense told me that since the economy was still in the toilet, pizza slice prices had only one way to go – Down!
November 2011 – $1 Pizza Slice at Bombay Fast Food
November 2011.
A year later, I returned to 6th Avenue on my way to Bryant Park’s free skating rink.
My eyes were drawn to the signboard of Bombay Fast Food again.
Indeed, the price had gone down by 33% as you can see in the above picture.
Hooray, the price of a slice was now $1.
But I was still not convinced $1 was a fair price for a pizza slice in New York City.
The recession (or depression if you ask the NYT columnist Paul Krugman) was stubbornly resisting all of Obama’s quick-fix shots.
I looked up at again the $1 pizza sign, hesitated momentarily but then walked along resolutely.
Life for the 99% wasn’t getting any better so I’d revisit the place when the prices fell further.
Hey, I’ve even stooped to quaffing Budweiser beers. Time was when I wouldn’t be seen in the same city as another Bud drinker.
July 2012 – 75 cents Pizza Slice at Bombay Fast Food
Time passed.
Eight months later, here I am on 6th Avenue again.
I was on my way to the Port Authority-42nd St subway station.
And I couldn’t help but look up at the Bombay Fast Food signboard.
Yipee, the price of the pizza slice had dropped in the eight months since I’d been to the area.
Now, the price was down another 25%. The slice I had resisted for 20-months cost just 75-cents.
The signboard and the price drop had a Pavlovian impact on my stomach, which started bellowing.
This time I succumbed and ambled into Bombay Fast Food.
The place was mostly empty.
But the shabbiness and the forlorn look mattered little to me.
I was there for my 75-cent slice trip.
75 cents Pizza Slice at Bombay Fast Food
Oh, what a grievous, egregious mistake it turned out to be.
The 75 cents Pizza slice at Bombay Fast Food was cold, had too little cheese and tasted plain awful.
If you ask me, I can’t be sure if it was cardboard or pizza.
In my opinion, it was the revenge of a third world entrepreneur against New York City’s neediest.
Disconsolate and concluding that I ought to have been paid 75-cents for eating that monstrosity, I shuffled my way out of the place vowing never to set foot there again.
Moral of My NYC Pizza Slice Lesson – Sometimes in life, it’s better to resist temptation than to yield to it!