Diego's Hair Salon is a hairdressing shop located in the

Dupont Circle Dupont Circle is a historic roundabout park and Neighborhoods in Washington, D.C., neighborhood of Washington, D.C., located in Northwest (Washington, D.C.), Northwest D.C. The Dupont Circle neighborhood is bounded approximately by 16th St ...

neighborhood of

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

, United States. Founded in the 1960s by

Italian American Italian Americans () are Americans who have full or partial Italians, Italian ancestry. The largest concentrations of Italian Americans are in the urban Northeastern United States, Northeast and industrial Midwestern United States, Midwestern ...

Diego D'Ambrosio, the salon has become a neighborhood institution frequented by politicians, religious leaders, diplomats, and

Supreme Court Justices The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest-ranking judicial body in the United States. Its membership, as set by the Judiciary Act of 1869, consists of the chief justice of the United States and eight associate justices, any six of ...

. The City of Washington, D.C., recognized D'Ambrosio's contributions to the community by renaming a nearby street in his honor and by the Italian government, which named him to the

Order of the Star of Italian Solidarity The Order of the Star of Italian Solidarity ( ) was founded as a national order by the first President of the Italian Republic, Enrico De Nicola, in 1947, to recognise civilian and military expatriates or foreigners who made an outstanding co ...

. He died in late October 2021 at the age of 87.

History

Two years after D'Ambrosio emigrated from

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

to the United States in 1961, he began working in his first hair salon. D'Ambrosio opened his own shop in 1965. Around 1980, he moved his business to its current location, The Moorings, a nautical-themed, former apartment building at 1901 Q Street, N.W., in Dupont Circle. The Moorings is an Art Deco-style building designed by architect Horace Peaslee in 1927 and is designated as a

contributing property In the law regulating historic districts in the United States, a contributing property or contributing resource is any building, object, or structure which adds to the historical integrity or architectural qualities that make the historic dist ...

to the Dupont Circle Historic District, listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

in 1978. When he moved to The Moorings, D'Ambrosio raised the price of men's haircuts to $20, the same rate he charged for about 35 years until he changed it to $25 in March 2016. Rupert Cornwell of ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'' described Diego's as a "modest and friendly establishment and the photos on its walls capture Washington: unglamorous but beautiful, exuding power yet oddly homey, with history around every corner and great men's shadows on every wall."

D'Ambrosio's honors

In 2009, D'Ambrosio was awarded the

at the

Italian Embassy This is a list of diplomatic missions of Italy, excluding honorary consulates. Italy has a large global network of diplomatic missions. It is the only country in the world to host its own embassy on its own territory—the Italian embassy to the ...

, in recognition of his promotion of his Italian heritage. On April 23, 2010, D.C. Mayor

Adrian Fenty Adrian Malik Fenty (born December 6, 1970) is an American politician who served as the mayor of the District of Columbia from 2007 to 2011. A Washington, D.C. native, Fenty graduated from Oberlin College and Howard University Law School, then ser ...

joined other local government officials in designating the 1900 block of Q Street, N.W., as Diego D'Ambrosio Way (an alternative street name). The Diego D'Ambrosio Way Designation Act of 2010 "officially recognizes Diego's contributions to District of Columbia residents and the city's business community."

Famous clientele

Diego's customers have included Supreme Court Justices

Warren E. Burger Warren Earl Burger (September 17, 1907 – June 25, 1995) was an American attorney who served as the 15th chief justice of the United States from 1969 to 1986. Born in Saint Paul, Minnesota, Burger graduated from the William Mitchell College o ...

and

William Rehnquist William Hubbs Rehnquist (October 1, 1924 – September 3, 2005) was an American attorney who served as the 16th chief justice of the United States from 1986 until his death in 2005, having previously been an associate justice from 1972 to 1986. ...

, Israeli Prime Minister

Benjamin Netanyahu Benjamin Netanyahu (born 21 October 1949) is an Israeli politician who has served as the prime minister of Israel since 2022, having previously held the office from 1996 to 1999 and from 2009 to 2021. Netanyahu is the longest-serving prime min ...

, former British Prime Minister

John Major Sir John Major (born 29 March 1943) is a British retired politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from 1990 to 1997. Following his defeat to Ton ...

, Washington Archbishop

Donald Wuerl Donald William Wuerl (born November 12, 1940) is an American Catholic prelate who served as Archbishop of Washington from 2006 to 2018. He previously served as auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Seattle (1986 to 1987) and Bishop of Pit ...

, Apostolic Nuncio

Pietro Sambi Pietro Sambi (27 June 1938 – 27 July 2011) was an Italian prelate of the Catholic Church who served in the diplomatic service of the Holy See from 1969 until his death in 2011. He had the rank of archbishop and the title of nuncio from 1985, f ...

, former Italian ambassador Giovanni Castellaneta, Mayor

, and members of the D.C. Council. By D'Ambrosio's count, he has cut the hair of 75 ambassadors, 17 presidents and prime ministers, and other officials representing a total of 135 countries.

References

External links

{{Commons category, Diego's Hair Salon
"Ask Diego"
video by ''

Politico ''Politico'' (stylized in all caps), known originally as ''The Politico'', is an American political digital newspaper company founded by American banker and media executive Robert Allbritton in 2007. It covers politics and policy in the Unit ...

''
"The Barber of Dupont"
video by ''

The Washington Times ''The Washington Times'' is an American Conservatism, conservative daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It covers general interest topics with an emphasis on Politics of the United States, national politics. Its broadsheet daily edit ...

''
"A glimpse into the famous Diego's Hair Salon"
video by ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

''
"Dupont Circle honors stylist who serves as neighborhood's 'foundation stone'"
photo gallery by ''

'' Privately held companies based in Washington, D.C. American companies established in 1965 Retail companies established in 1965 1965 establishments in Washington, D.C. Dupont Circle Hair salons Italian-American culture in Washington, D.C.