Angel & Vilma's Original Route 66 Gift Shop
- Route 66 site
- In Seligman, Arizona
- On Route 66
More photos
Angel & Vilma's Original Route 66 Gift Shop is the souvenir store of Angel Delgadillo and his wife Vilma on Route 66 in Seligman, AZ, with Angel's old barbershop kept as a museum. Angel, born in Seligman in 1927, opened his barbershop in 1950. After the interstate bypassed the town in 1978, he led the push that created Arizona's Historic Route 66 association in 1987, and many travelers call him Route 66's guardian angel.
What it is
The shop bills itself as the very first Historic Route 66 gift shop. It fills a building that went up in the 1910s as a duplex home and has been a pool hall and a barbershop, then a gift shop and museum.
It is two doors from Delgadillo's Snow Cap Drive-In, which Angel's brother Juan ran for many years and Juan's family still runs.
A bit of history
Angel opened his barbershop in 1950 in the building where his father had run a barbershop and pool hall, on the original alignment of Route 66, and moved the business here, on the newer alignment, in 1972. Angel watched the whole life of the highway from this town: the Dust Bowl families heading west in the 1930s, the wartime traffic, and the quiet after Interstate 40 opened. Route 66 was officially decommissioned in 1985. When Angel started the Historic Route 66 Association of Arizona, the first group to bring the road back as a historic highway, he helped fund it by selling specially made Historic Route 66 souvenirs in the pool-hall part of his business.
As the old road grew popular again, so did the gift shop. Vilma came to run it full time, and it took over the pool hall. Angel kept cutting hair for travelers until he retired in 2022, at 95. His barbershop is now a tiny museum inside the shop.
Visiting tips
Seligman calls itself the birthplace of Historic Route 66. The shop also works as the town's unofficial visitor center, with brochures and a walking-tour map of the Seligman Commercial Historic District.
Ask to see the picture John Lasseter drew for Angel when a Pixar crew interviewed him in 2001, on their Route 66 research trip before the 2006 film Cars.
Practical info
- Address
- 22265 W Historic Route 66, Seligman, AZ 86337
- Website
- route66giftshop.com
- Hours
- We have no opening hours for this stop yet — check the official site.
- On site & nearby
Sources: OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL) · Wikidata · official site — may be outdated. Suggest a fix
Where to eat nearby
All diners on Route 66 →
On the map
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Questions
Does Angel Delgadillo still cut hair?
No. Angel cut hair for travelers in his Seligman barbershop until he retired in 2022, at 95. The barbershop is now a tiny museum inside Angel & Vilma's Original Route 66 Gift Shop.
Why is Seligman called the birthplace of Historic Route 66?
The Historic Route 66 Association of Arizona, the first group to bring Route 66 back as a historic highway, was founded at a meeting in Seligman in 1987 that Angel Delgadillo called after the interstate bypassed the town in 1978.
Own or run Angel & Vilma's Original Route 66 Gift Shop? Send us a photo or a correction.