Angel Delgadillo, whose barbershop stands on Chino Avenue in Seligman, led the campaign to have Route 66 recognised as a historic road. Delgadillo, born in Seligman on 19 April 1927, opened his first shop in 1950 in the family's former pool hall and moved to the present building in 1972 to catch the tourist trade. By the family's account, his father taught himself barbering in the early 1920s because Mexican and Indian customers were often refused elsewhere. Interstate 40 opened past the town on 22 September 1978. By Delgadillo's account some 9,000 cars a day had come through Seligman, and when the interstate opened the traffic all but vanished; he later said the town died for ten long years.
In February 1987 Delgadillo and supporters from Seligman, Kingman and other towns along the old road formed the Historic Route 66 Association of Arizona. In November 1987 Arizona designated the road from Seligman to Kingman as Historic Route 66, which is why Seligman calls itself the birthplace of Historic Route 66. Associations with the same aim followed in all eight Route 66 states.
The shop became a gift shop and visitor centre as tourists returned. When John Lasseter of Pixar researched the film Cars in 2001, he interviewed Delgadillo about how traffic through the town disappeared when the interstate opened. His first shop, used from 1950 to 1972 on Railroad Avenue, was restored with National Trust funding and rededicated in April 2026.
Getting there
35.3262, -112.8736
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