Charting the Growth of Pizza Popularity in NYC

Though New York boasts over 1,600 slice joints today, the Wall Street Journal learns that this wasn't always a pizza capital. According to the chart above, created by someone who scoured microfilm of old Yellow Pages in the New York Public Library, there were just over 100 pizzerias in New York in the late 50s and almost 1,000 in the 70s. The growth was due to the introduction of the gas pizza oven, which made pizza easy to make and reheat and led to the outcropping of pizzerias here and across the country.
· How New York Became a Pizza Capital [WSJ]