The Remarkable Legend of the 405 Freeway -- Fact or Fiction? (Redondo Beach: closing, beach)

[James T]

I've heard every now and then a story regarding the 405 Freeway that states, once some time ago, perhaps around 2:00 or 3:00 AM -- which is perhaps the only time actually plausible -- the north bound side in the LAX area was not congested. Absolutely astounding if actually true...

[fastfilm]

We would have to relegate this one to Mythology. This tale also includes Ghost Commuters, left over from earlier hours driving underneath the clouded skies making strange and possibly rude gestures at one another while the Devil chortles from the perpetually closed center divider; Lost Drivers still seeking parking places decades later; and the odd Motorcyclist with a Flaming Skull.

This myth, as with so many others, is rooted in reality. While the freeway lanes in question may have cleared and traffic opened wide at approximately 1 a.m., these lanes almost immediately were closed off again for municipal repair work, hence the congestion once again closing up all possible gaps in bumper to bumper traffic with the relentlessness of a slow lava flow.

[Charles]

Originally Posted by James T

I've heard every now and then a story regarding the 405 Freeway that states, once some time ago, perhaps around 2:00 or 3:00 AM -- which is perhaps the only time actually plausible -- the north bound side in the LAX area was not congested. Absolutely astounding if actually true...

They call it the 405 because it takes four or five hours to get anywhere on it.

[tomwhite56]

I used to drive the 405 nonstop. Oh, but that was 12 years ago, and I had to be at work at midnight...

[Rats]

Once upon a time, at 10:30 AM on a sunny Thursday morning in 2005, I drove on the 405 from Northridge to Redondo Beach in 25 minutes.

[justducky2]

Did you know that So Cals have an "accent"? I learned that, from writing a technical document after I moved to No Cal, and I kept writing "the" 405, "the" 118, "the" 5....I was accused of plagiarizing by my editor, who didn't know I came from So Cal!!! Up here, they say "50", "99", etc.

Just kinda funny!

[fastfilm]

Your editor is unaware of colloquial usage? (not "accent.") You dare not write in further provincial SoCal terms, such as describing distance by time (as in Rats' epic saga of 25 minutes from Northridge to Redondo Beach,) lest your editor misuse further syntax and accuse you of, oh I don't know, palindrones and allusions.

[SandyCo]

What, other places don't describe their highways or freeways as "the"? I never knew... And I've gotten so used to saying "used to be 20 minutes, but now it's an hour away", that I never think in terms of true distance anymore. No doubt about it, life in L.A. warps your brain.

[sgfludd]

In South Carolina we call them interstates or "I"- for example: "From Columbia you'll take I-277 to I-20 to I-95 to get to Fayetteville."

[VillageLife]

Originally Posted by fastfilm

We would have to relegate this one to Mythology. This tale also includes Ghost Commuters, left over from earlier hours driving underneath the clouded skies making strange and possibly rude gestures at one another while the Devil chortles from the perpetually closed center divider; Lost Drivers still seeking parking places decades later; and the odd Motorcyclist with a Flaming Skull.

This myth, as with so many others, is rooted in reality. While the freeway lanes in question may have cleared and traffic opened wide at approximately 1 a.m., these lanes almost immediately were closed off again for municipal repair work, hence the congestion once again closing up all possible gaps in bumper to bumper traffic with the relentlessness of a slow lava flow.

Ha!Ha!Ha! I love that ghost story early in the morning.