Guardian of the Secrets of Power
An Italian barber in Washington has cut the hair of numerous international presidents, ambassadors, politicians and judges. Diego D’Ambrosio has been winning the trust of the elite since 1968.
It is often said that the chauffeurs of high-ranking politicians and economists know the secrets of the most powerful and guard them jealously. However, after visiting Diego d’Ambrosio’s famous barbershop in Washington, it may seem that, perhaps, barbers should be added to the list of cherished confidantes. This Italian, born in 1939, has spent 45 years cutting the hair of numerous international heads of state, ambassadors, politicians and judges in his small salon in the U.S. capital, and he overflows with enthusiasm for the job.
A visit to Diego’s Hair Salon in the center of Washington is a journey into the past — to those neighborhood barbershops where they greet the customers by name, musical classics play in the background — Italian in this case, of course — and the staff chat to you about every aspect of life and hope to leave each client perfectly satisfied. A smiling Diego, dressed in an elegant tie, with his bronze hair perfectly styled, greets everyone who comes into the shop with an affable, "Buon giorno. Come stai?" — Hello. How are you? He immediately switches to English, with a marked Italian accent, and asks clients to wait a few minutes until he, or one of the other eight stylists, is free to attend them.
"While you wait, take a look at the photographs," he suggests, proudly indicating the walls, which are replete with frames of signed photos of all kinds of famous personalities, from ambassadors to military officers and politicians, including some very well known faces. In pride of place are photos of the current president, Barack Obama, and several of his predecessors, such as Bill Clinton and George H. W. Bush. The clutter of images also includes former Vice-President Dick Cheney, Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi, current Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, former Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi, and the former Spanish minister and banker Rodrigo Rato, who often visited the salon during his years as managing director of the International Monetary Fund.
In the most privileged position of all, next to the cash register and the chair where D’Ambrosio’s clients sit, hangs a Polaroid of the barber with Pope Benedict XVI in Rome. D’Ambrosio was supposed to cut the former pontiff’s hair in 2008 during the papal visit to Washington, but the appointment was canceled at the last minute because of the pope’s health problems.
After a short wait, D’Ambrosio is ready, and he picks up his tools, makes a couple of jokes, calmly starts cutting, and the questions begin.
Did you give a haircut to everyone in the photos?
"Everyone knows me," he proclaims, cracking a wide smile.
"I’m registered. I’ve attended to 137 ambassadors, including one today, 26 international leaders, senators, members of the Supreme Court, company directors …"
Any U.S. presidents?
"I can’t tell you that. They sign the photos because I’m good." He bursts out laughing.
What’s your secret? Why do all these powerful clients come to you again and again?
"It’s an old secret: Listen to everyone and don’t say anything."
What do you think attracts people to a barbershop like this?
"It’s like a family. Anyone who comes in here is very special to me. Everyone trusts me, and if I need a favor they always help me out. If I didn’t keep quiet about everything I know, no one would come back."
Throughout the conversation, between snips of his scissors, continual laughter and sips of coffee, D’Ambrosio manages to avoid revealing whether he has cut the hair of any U.S. presidents, but he admits that he sometimes attends to his famous clients in their offices — "The Secret Service calls to tell me who the client is" — and that he has been to the White House: "But only for lunch," says the Italian-American, who prefers to be known as a stylist rather than a barber.
D’Ambrosio charges the same — $20, for a man’s haircut, and a woman’s can cost up to 45 — as he has since 1989, when his barbershop moved a few yards along the street to its current location, a few blocks away from Dupont Circle, one of Washington’s main parks, and close to several embassies and the headquarters of the IMF and Department of State. He opened his first barbershop in 1968, when the Cuban partner he had worked with for two years left to live in Miami. Seven years earlier, in 1961, he had arrived in the U.S. to work temporarily at the Italian Embassy, where his duties included styling employees’ hair.
He was a 20-year-old native of Santa Marinello, a town on the outskirts of Rome, where he had started out as a barber. Like so many immigrants, his original plan was to stay in the U.S. for a short period; he has now been here for no less than 52 years. "After my first job ended, the ambassador told me that if I wanted to stay in the U.S. he would help me," recalls D’Ambrosio, as Azzurro by Adriano Celentano plays in the background. He soon obtained a visa to stay permanently in the United States, and when he started work as a barber, embassy staff helped him make a name for himself in diplomatic, political and judicial spheres. "People started to talk about me, and to come," he says. Since then, his reputation has been incomparable. "Wherever you go, they know my name," he boasts, sticking his chest out modestly.
During these 45 years in charge of his Dupont barbershop, D’Ambrosio has gained the trust of the elite, attracted by the familiar atmosphere, convenience of the location from their workplaces, and aura that surrounds such famous places. The stylist has left his mark on Washington, which has won him recognition from various sources. In April 2010, the side street where his shop is located was renamed Diego D’Ambrosio Way, in honor of this Italian immigrant’s contribution to the city and its business community, undoubtedly influenced by then-mayor, Adrian M. Fenty, who had been a faithful client for many years. In 2009, he received the Order of the Star of Italian Solidarity from the Italian government for his promotion of his Italian heritage.
D’Ambrosio has two children, born in the United States, who have not followed him into the family business. Over 70, he still clearly loves the job, and responds sarcastically to inquiries about retirement, "I can’t go anywhere, because the street has my name, so I have to stay here." Despite his fame, he has ruled out opening more salons because "the more you open, the more problems you have."
In his bright salon, known to everyone as Diego's Hair Salon, he transcends time and is always the protagonist. He greets everyone who comes in, while chatting to his customers and managing the other stylists, three of whom are also Italian. The others are from Peru, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Cambodia, Vietnam and Greece — a diverse immigration success story. D’Ambrosio repeats that what he enjoys most is "meeting people and talking to them," and it is clear that this is no lie. He seems delighted with everything. After finishing the cut, he says goodbye in Italian, always remembering your name and breaking into his wide smile again:
"Mile gracie. Ci vediamo la prossima" — Thank you very much. See you next time — an experience from beginning to end.
It is often said that the chauffeurs of high-ranking politicians and economists know the secrets of the most powerful and guard them jealously. However, after visiting Diego d’Ambrosio’s famous barbershop in Washington, it may seem that, perhaps, barbers should be added to the list of cherished confidantes. This Italian, born in 1939, has spent 45 years cutting the hair of numerous international heads of state, ambassadors, politicians and judges in his small salon in the U.S. capital, and he overflows with enthusiasm for the job.
A visit to Diego’s Hair Salon in the center of Washington is a journey into the past — to those neighborhood barbershops where they greet the customers by name, musical classics play in the background — Italian in this case, of course — and the staff chat to you about every aspect of life and hope to leave each client perfectly satisfied. A smiling Diego, dressed in an elegant tie, with his bronze hair perfectly styled, greets everyone who comes into the shop with an affable, "Buon giorno. Come stai?" — Hello. How are you? He immediately switches to English, with a marked Italian accent, and asks clients to wait a few minutes until he, or one of the other eight stylists, is free to attend them.
"While you wait, take a look at the photographs," he suggests, proudly indicating the walls, which are replete with frames of signed photos of all kinds of famous personalities, from ambassadors to military officers and politicians, including some very well known faces. In pride of place are photos of the current president, Barack Obama, and several of his predecessors, such as Bill Clinton and George H. W. Bush. The clutter of images also includes former Vice-President Dick Cheney, Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi, current Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, former Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi, and the former Spanish minister and banker Rodrigo Rato, who often visited the salon during his years as managing director of the International Monetary Fund.
In the most privileged position of all, next to the cash register and the chair where D’Ambrosio’s clients sit, hangs a Polaroid of the barber with Pope Benedict XVI in Rome. D’Ambrosio was supposed to cut the former pontiff’s hair in 2008 during the papal visit to Washington, but the appointment was canceled at the last minute because of the pope’s health problems.
After a short wait, D’Ambrosio is ready, and he picks up his tools, makes a couple of jokes, calmly starts cutting, and the questions begin.
Did you give a haircut to everyone in the photos?
"Everyone knows me," he proclaims, cracking a wide smile.
"I’m registered. I’ve attended to 137 ambassadors, including one today, 26 international leaders, senators, members of the Supreme Court, company directors …"
Any U.S. presidents?
"I can’t tell you that. They sign the photos because I’m good." He bursts out laughing.
What’s your secret? Why do all these powerful clients come to you again and again?
"It’s an old secret: Listen to everyone and don’t say anything."
What do you think attracts people to a barbershop like this?
"It’s like a family. Anyone who comes in here is very special to me. Everyone trusts me, and if I need a favor they always help me out. If I didn’t keep quiet about everything I know, no one would come back."
Throughout the conversation, between snips of his scissors, continual laughter and sips of coffee, D’Ambrosio manages to avoid revealing whether he has cut the hair of any U.S. presidents, but he admits that he sometimes attends to his famous clients in their offices — "The Secret Service calls to tell me who the client is" — and that he has been to the White House: "But only for lunch," says the Italian-American, who prefers to be known as a stylist rather than a barber.
D’Ambrosio charges the same — $20, for a man’s haircut, and a woman’s can cost up to 45 — as he has since 1989, when his barbershop moved a few yards along the street to its current location, a few blocks away from Dupont Circle, one of Washington’s main parks, and close to several embassies and the headquarters of the IMF and Department of State. He opened his first barbershop in 1968, when the Cuban partner he had worked with for two years left to live in Miami. Seven years earlier, in 1961, he had arrived in the U.S. to work temporarily at the Italian Embassy, where his duties included styling employees’ hair.
He was a 20-year-old native of Santa Marinello, a town on the outskirts of Rome, where he had started out as a barber. Like so many immigrants, his original plan was to stay in the U.S. for a short period; he has now been here for no less than 52 years. "After my first job ended, the ambassador told me that if I wanted to stay in the U.S. he would help me," recalls D’Ambrosio, as Azzurro by Adriano Celentano plays in the background. He soon obtained a visa to stay permanently in the United States, and when he started work as a barber, embassy staff helped him make a name for himself in diplomatic, political and judicial spheres. "People started to talk about me, and to come," he says. Since then, his reputation has been incomparable. "Wherever you go, they know my name," he boasts, sticking his chest out modestly.
During these 45 years in charge of his Dupont barbershop, D’Ambrosio has gained the trust of the elite, attracted by the familiar atmosphere, convenience of the location from their workplaces, and aura that surrounds such famous places. The stylist has left his mark on Washington, which has won him recognition from various sources. In April 2010, the side street where his shop is located was renamed Diego D’Ambrosio Way, in honor of this Italian immigrant’s contribution to the city and its business community, undoubtedly influenced by then-mayor, Adrian M. Fenty, who had been a faithful client for many years. In 2009, he received the Order of the Star of Italian Solidarity from the Italian government for his promotion of his Italian heritage.
D’Ambrosio has two children, born in the United States, who have not followed him into the family business. Over 70, he still clearly loves the job, and responds sarcastically to inquiries about retirement, "I can’t go anywhere, because the street has my name, so I have to stay here." Despite his fame, he has ruled out opening more salons because "the more you open, the more problems you have."
In his bright salon, known to everyone as Diego's Hair Salon, he transcends time and is always the protagonist. He greets everyone who comes in, while chatting to his customers and managing the other stylists, three of whom are also Italian. The others are from Peru, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Cambodia, Vietnam and Greece — a diverse immigration success story. D’Ambrosio repeats that what he enjoys most is "meeting people and talking to them," and it is clear that this is no lie. He seems delighted with everything. After finishing the cut, he says goodbye in Italian, always remembering your name and breaking into his wide smile again:
"Mile gracie. Ci vediamo la prossima" — Thank you very much. See you next time — an experience from beginning to end.
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