Southern Californians have a distinctive — 'Saturday Night Live's' Fred Armisen and Kristen Wiig might say funny — way of giving directions. To get from Santa Monica to Hollywood, take the 10 to the 110 to the 101. Burbank to San Diego? The 134 to the 5. And, if you can, always avoid the 405. Why the definite articles?...Most of North America, in fact, omits the 'the' before route numbers. — KCET
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11 Comments
NYers say "the" also.
The difference in NY is that the highways almost all have non-numerical names. "The Cross-Bronx", "The Bruckner" "The Triboro" etc... I've never heard "The 95" in NY.
True
"...the 10 to the 110 to the 101?" That's crazy. The 110 is a parking lot, even worse than the 405. Get off the 10 at either Vermont or Normandie and head north. Vermont is a straight shot, yeah, but on Normandie you get that killer view of the Hollywood sign, plus you have to shift over at that jog near Wilshire. Then again, if you take Western up, you get to pass the Wiltern tower and see all that art deco goodness. Any of them, much better than the 110 most times of day. Ohmygod!
Oh, citizen, I adore you!
backatcha, DS ;o)
I live local but I have to commute 15 miles eachway 4 days a week. I have respect for all our freeways in LA. and I think it is part of this respect to pronounce them with indivuduality. I prefer my car driving to time consuming public transportation. I take surface streets whenever possible because I like seeing the city via its streets and up close. Freeways give you more personal space and they give you a bigger perspective to think about megalopolis and think big. For the most of the time freeways will get you there faster. They also look beautiful, both at night and during the day and from the up above and underneat. Some freeway junctions are engineering marvels.
The 405 is definitely she, as the 101. the 110 is definitely gay, as the 60 will always be pronounced the Pomona Freeway, just like the 10, the Santa Monica Freeway. One of the shortest but most useful freeway is the 2, Glendale Freeway. Harbor Freeway is most adventurous. I think I like referring them by their local names rather than numbers. Sometimes I think that's rude to call them as numbers.
Orhan's right that many freeways are referred to by name, not number. Numbers are usually used to avoid confusion when names change over the length. (The 110 is called The Pasadena from downtown north, and The Harbor south of that. The 101 is called The Hollywood at the south end, but The Ventura from the San Fernando Valley north, etcetera.)
Place and path names are fun!
Also, what so funny about "The Californians" is the argumentation over proper routes to avoid traffic that actually do begin many conversations when people meet up here... though that may be the case in lots of cities. It's that delivery in exaggerated Val-speak that cracks me up.
the 2 is the best freeway in LA
chigurh, agreed. i live right where the 2 kisses the foothills.
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