> That SoCal people refer, and refer often, to freeways by number is the basis of the SNL skit “The Californians”[0].
Those skits aren't about the number, they're about the word "the."
Elsewhere in the country, where the freeways were built later and didn't have as many old established pre-number names, people talk like "Take 75 and then go west on 285 to [whatever exit]. And surface street names, SoCal or elsewhere, rarely have "the" anywhere (nobody would say "go to The Sunset Avenue"); it's a specific history-of-freeways-in-Socal thing.
A foreigner not knowing local street names seems completely unrelated to numbers-vs-word-names or "the".
No, the skits are, per interviews with the writers, about the fact that SoCal conversations bring up driving instructions far more than in New York City where the show is based. This also reflects in the skit in the mention of finding parking. But in the context of this thread, the skits do support SoCal use of “the”.
Those skits aren't about the number, they're about the word "the."
Elsewhere in the country, where the freeways were built later and didn't have as many old established pre-number names, people talk like "Take 75 and then go west on 285 to [whatever exit]. And surface street names, SoCal or elsewhere, rarely have "the" anywhere (nobody would say "go to The Sunset Avenue"); it's a specific history-of-freeways-in-Socal thing.
A foreigner not knowing local street names seems completely unrelated to numbers-vs-word-names or "the".