Angel Delgadillo announces retirement from barbering after 75 years in the trade

Angel Delgadillo, known as the Guardian Angel of Route 66, announced on Thursday he was retiring from the barber trade after 75 years in it, virtually all in Seligman, Arizona.

The Angel and Vilma Delgadillo’s Original Route 66 Gift Shop account on Facebook announced it:

Angel always says the first day of his barbering career was the day he started barbering college on July 7, 1947 in Pasadena, California on Colorado Blvd, a.k.a. California US 66!

Today, we are honoring Angel’s 75th anniversary of barbering and we are using this milestone to announce Angel’s official retirement as a barber. Angel has finally decided that at 95 years old, it is time to retire.

And since Angel’s career began on California US 66 (75 years ago!) we have, for sale on our website; California Us 66 paper shields with reflective stickers, SIGNED BY ANGEL, with a little history of this barbering career to commemorate this special day. […]

Here’s to a wonderful man with an amazing (and very long) career as a skilled barber: The barber on Route 66 who became The Barber OF Route 66.

According to his bio, Delgadillo completed his apprenticeship in another Route 66 town — Williams, Arizona. He opened his barbershop in Seligman in 1950, in the same building his father had opened his barber shop and pool hall on Route 66 in 1922.

In 1972, Angel moved his barber shop location so that he could take advantage of the traffic on the new alignment of Route 66 through Seligman. He moved his barber shop fixtures, including his father’s 1926 barber chair, and 3 pool tables to the new location. For six years, Delgadillo’s Barber Shop and Pool Hall, along with the other Seligman businesses, enjoyed the commerce that the 9,000 cars Route 66 brought through town each day. During this time there was so much traffic that Angel would sometimes have to wait 10 to 15 minutes before there was an opportunity to cross the street to walk home from work. 

 After being reliant on the traffic Route 66 brought through town it was very distressing to the community when on September 22, 1978 the stream of cars completely stopped. It was this day the newly constructed Interstate 40 opened just two miles south of town. The livelihood of Angel’s barber shop and all the other businesses in Seligman disappeared in one day. Angel remembers feeling that on that day “the world forgot about us.”

That abandonment by interstate eventually prompted him to help found the Historic Route 66 Association of Arizona and lobby the state to sign Route 66. His efforts, as much as anyone’s, led to Route 66’s revival.

Here is a popular video from about eight years ago of Delgadillo applying his original trade:

Delgadillo had been gradually scaling down his barbering over the years. So this retirement isn’t a big surprise.

I have no doubt, however, that Delgadillo will continue in his role as essentially a Route 66 ambassador and sage indefinitely. He enjoys it too much.

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