← All articles · United States · 9 June 2013

Seligman

Seligman in June 2013, the town that kept Route 66 alive: jalopies at the Snow Cap, mannequins on the Rusty Bolt, and meeting Angel Delgadillo.

Seligman is the reason Route 66 still exists as a thing you can drive. When the interstate bypassed the town, the local barber, Angel Delgadillo, rallied his neighbours to get the old road declared historic, and the world's most famous highway got its second life. We pulled in on a June 2013 morning to find the whole town gloriously in on the joke.

Close-up of a white US 66 route shield sign with a beaded border in Seligman — The shield that launched a thousand road trips.

Mural on the Historic Aztec Motel wall in Seligman reading Mother Road 66 with painted Route 66 shields and lamp posts — The Historic Aztec Motel wall, leaving no doubt about the town's allegiance.

Dileep walking past a stone building towards barber shop and gift shop signs on Seligman's main street, with a tour group crossing the road — Main street on a June morning: one barber shop, several gift shops, coachloads of pilgrims.

J and R's Minimart and Deli under an orange canopy, with a Texaco sign and Route 66 shopfronts along the street — J&R's Minimart: breakfast, lunch, souvenirs and shade, all under one canopy.

Dileep in a straw hat photographing the old Texaco sign and a line of Route 66 shopfronts from the roadside — The old Texaco sign got a longer photo session than most humans we know.

The yard art of Route 66

Delgadillo's Snow Cap vintage car painted white and red, decorated with flowers and flags, parked beside an old telephone box — The Snow Cap drive-in's house car, wearing flowers, flags and the words Dead Chicken. Sense is not the point.

Front view of a rusted vintage car covered in horns, flowers and painted ice cream cones, with a Route 66 number plate — Horns, flowers, painted ice creams and a Route 66 plate. Subtlety is not the yard's style.

Inga in a straw hat posing beside a rusty vintage truck signwritten Charlie's Cesspool Service — Inga hitching a ride with Charlie's Cesspool Service. Permit No. 3, so all above board.

Dileep beside a mint green Dodge pickup truck beneath a US 66 sign outside a gift shop — The mint green Dodge outside Angel and Vilma's gift shop, wearing number plates left behind by European road trippers.

Dileep with his camera outside the Rusty Bolt gift shop, its balcony crowded with dressed mannequins — The Rusty Bolt's balcony crowd never moves and never buys anything.

A pink Fifties car with an Elvis mannequin sitting on the boot, parked outside the Rusty Bolt beneath an Arizona US 66 shield — Elvis on the boot of a pink Fifties sedan. Seligman commits to the bit.

The man himself

Angel Delgadillo in glasses and a colourful visor talking inside his gift shop, the walls covered in visitors' cards and dollar bills — Angel Delgadillo, the barber whose campaign saved Route 66, holding court in his shop beneath walls of visitors' cards and dollar bills.

Meeting Angel was the kind of accident that makes a road trip. We drove out past the Snow Cap with the windows down, headed back towards Williams and the canyon country.