My Lost Interview with The Guardian Angel of Route 66

Mark Anthony Interviews Angel Delgadillo

My last post was about the Historic Route 66 Fun Run and how it is started each year by the man many call “The guardian of Route 66” Angel Delgadillo.  So I thought I needed to follow that up with an interview I did with Angel a few years before.  But I needed to find it.

Let me start by saying that it’s been an honor of mine to be able to call Angel my friend. Since my first introduction to him, he has always been friendly, kind, and generous with his time to me, my friends as well as my guests. I stop by almost every time I am doing a tour of the Grand Canyon or am just in the area for any other reason.  My guests love to meet him and to get their pictures with him. You can’t help but smile when you are around him.

When Angel turned 87, I was actually there, not knowing at the time, it was also his birthday. So while there, he agreed to sit down and talk with me on camera.  Now for some, this may sound strange, for others, they will get it.  Angel insisted that we do the interview in his former barbershop and that I sit in the famous chair! Yes, I got to sit in his chair and talk to the man himself uninterrupted. Not an easy feat.

Actually, it worked out for his family who runs the day-to-day operations.  I kept him busy while they decorated the rest of the store and got things ready for his birthday surprise party!

Not Really “Lost”

To say this interview was really “lost” is not entirely accurate. I thought it was somewhere on here, on The Vegas Tourist website. I thought I had posted it way back when and just forgot what the post was.  In reality, it was actually posted elsewhere. I have had several other YouTube channels over the years and put it on one I was trying to develop at the time.  It had a few hundred hits over the years but never got any attention. It was lost in the crowds and so I found it and moved on here to help explain my previous story.

Angel is The Man!

Angel was literally born on Route 66.  His home sat alongside the original alignment of the highway. When the famous highway was later moved one block, Angel went along with it. When he was old enough, he followed in his father’s footsteps and became a barber. He even used the same chair his father used.  He still has the bill of sale framed on hanging on the wall!

In time, he also opened up a pool hall on the famous highway.  Later, he merged the two.  He cut hair for the people in Seligman as well as the people passing thru on their way to other cities.  Until the Interstate opened.  Well, you probably know the rest of that story by now! if not, listen to him tell the story.

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Mark Anthony Interviews Angel Delgadillo
to sit in the world-famous barber chair and talk with Angel Delgadillo

Talking with Angel is always a treat,. He has a mind like a steel trap. Remembering dates, places and people like it all happened yesterday!  He always feels that he is given too much credit for what he has done. Always reminding you that other people were there alongside him. It was a team or a group effort. He has no problem giving credit to others and naming names of long lost friends and fellow business owners.

Angel is one of those rare individuals who keeps a smile on his face no matter what and can see the good in almost any situation!  He is a man who certainly enjoys the long life he has lived.

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