Well, I'm more of a "Boston Italian"--my grandmother and cousins lived in the area when I was growing up. But, even I've heard of Rao's. They're iconic. It may be that, living on the west coast, you don't fully grasp how much the Italian culture (and plenty of other cultures) is a part of the melting pots of NY and Boston. It's kind of funny, my very American, only-a-quarter-Italian DD moved to Boston for college, and when she went into the South End (i.e., Little Italy), she said, "Mom, I knew I was HOME!" And when she mentioned her Italian-immigrant grandfather, they treated her like one of the family. I've never actually eaten Italian in NYC, but I imagine it's similar.
I will have to keep an eye out for Rao's sauce on sale.