Why do people say "the" 405? (Los Angeles, San Diego: beach, car)

[ysr_racer]

So do they say, "I'm going to take Richmond Bridge to ..."

[EscapeCalifornia]

Originally Posted by Charles

I don't think this is true. As far as I know, The numbers have always been there. Caltrans didn't build a freeway and not designate a number for it. For example, I-5 through Orange County used to be Highway 101, like 80 years ago or something like that.

However, the proper names for freeways may indeed be the reason for the use of "the" I just don't think the bolded text above is true.

I wonder how many people use the route numbers back then. Beach Blvd is Highway 39, and probably has been for decades, but the only people who actually call it that are out-of-staters on City-Data asking about it after looking at a map. I suspect the same is true of the other numbered highways (aka streets) like Lakewood Blvd, Hawthorne Blvd, Pacific Coast Highway, etc.

[ferretkona]

You know when I say I am going to the store, I tell my wife I am going to take the truck. If some people want to start removing selected words out of a sentence they can sound like a hick all they want.

[Charles]

Originally Posted by Hwy phantom

Wrong! Nobody in the Bay Area says "the" and if they do they must be a transplant from So Cal.

You're probably right. I say I'm going to visit Frisco.

[Fontucky]

Or San Fran.

[AuburnAL]

It is LA slang.

I read someplace that back in the 50s there a was a traffic reporter on an LA radio station who had an in with local and state police so he always had the most up to date accident reports. As a result of having the best accident reports lots of people listened to him, and he said "the 405" and such which is where it started. Why he didn't talk like people in the rest of the country in regards to this is unknown.

[C2ShiningC]

Originally Posted by EscapeCalifornia

Because freeways had names before numbers:

The San Diego Freeway
The Santa Ana Freeway
The Ventura Freeway

Replace the proper name with a route number.

To this day my mom, who grew up in the Torrance area, but hasn't lived there in years, and doesn't drive freeways, knows where the Harbor Freeway is but isn't quite sure about the 110.

Although they did have numbers, when I was growing up in the sixties, I recall freeways always being referred to by names, especially on the radio and by my father. I knew them as the Garden Grove, San Diego, Riverside, Santa Ana, Golden State, Harbor, Foothill, Pasadena and Long Beach freeways. I am pretty certain that during the sixties, most of the freeways were referred to by their names in such things as TV and radio traffic reports and commercials. Here are a couple of examples of the freeways being referred to by their names instead of numbers:

A jingle for a TV commercial gives directions to their car lot by using "Long Beach Freeway" in their jingle:


PETE ELLIS DODGE 1981 - YouTube

In this video about the 1971 earthquake centered in Sylmar, from 6:30 to 6:45 they refer to the Golden State and San Diego freeways:


San Fernando Valley Earthquake 1971 Sylmar California - YouTube

I don't recall when I started referring to them as numbers, but I believe it was when I started commuting from Riverside to Orange County. I do know that it took me a while to switch over and I really had to make some effort to not only start calling them by numbers, but having to learn the numbers which I had not known previously. Like Escape's mother described above, I do know the Harbor Freeway, but really not the number as it was not a freeway I ever used much. Since so many people do it, I think that everybody switching over from "the Santa Ana Freeway" to the number instead was so used to using "the" as part of the proper name that it just stuck.

[Fontucky]

Originally Posted by C2ShiningC

I am pretty certain that during the sixties, most of the freeways were referred to by their names in such things as TV and radio traffic reports and commercials.

And the fifties. Not sure about the forties. Nita will have to chime in for that.

[BRinSM]

I was once singled out as a socal native in richmond, va for placing 'the' before a freeway number. i remember it specifically. i was at a taco bell talking about which freeway to take to get to DC and I mentioned 'the' 95. the lady at the counter said you must be from CA since she'd only heard the use of 'the' with respect to freeways when she had lived in san diego years before.

[Axxlrod]

Using "the" is a so-cal thing. It makes sense to me.

But I hate the naming of freeways thing. Very confusing.

For instance, the the 405 is also called the San Diego freeway, but, um, it doesn't go to San Diego. Not even close.