Andy Evangelista will retire at the end of this month, after working at his family’s barbershop for almost half a century. (Photos by Maria Rocha-Buschel)
By Maria Rocha-Buschel
It’s the end of an era for Sigfrido’s Barbershop on First Avenue with the retirement of barber and co-owner Andy Evangelista after almost 50 years, but he likes to think of it as a sort of beginning.
“It’s sad in a way to leave but I’m happy to start a new adventure with my family,” he said, explaining that he and his wife have a number of trips planned following his departure from the shop after the end of this month.
Ruben Aronov, who’s been working at the business for the past 11 years, has taken over Evangelista’s stake in the business. There’s also another owner named Sam Sagykov.
Evangelista has been working at the shop since 1968 when he was 19 years old. One of his brothers is the shop’s namesake, Sigfrido, who started the business seven years earlier with his brother-in-law, Nunzio.
Sigfrido came to the United States in 1959 and helped take care of the paperwork so that his other brothers could come to New York as well.
Evangelista said that he was meant to make the trip in 1963 but was delayed because of President John Kennedy’s assassination and he ultimately made the trip five years later.
