Quote:
Originally Posted by innerSpaceman
But people eventually found the numbers more pertinent to travel, so that's what won.
Route numbers didn't have that effect on streets. I've never once heard anyone refer to Santa Monica Boulevard as Route 2. (Or "The 2" or "Two.")
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Because the freeway system became so prominent in SoCal. There are many places in California (not to mention the rest of the US) where surface street routes are still called by the route number. When I was growing up in OC, Beach Blvd was always referred to as "Highway 39", and I can remember when PCH was just called "Highway 1". Just because the practice is no longer common does not mean it wasn't common in the past.
(ETA because I thought of this seconds after hitting "submit reply".)
When my parents talked about moving to California in the 50's, they talked about driving into LA on Route 66, and never mentioned the
names of all the streets that comprised Route 66 in Southern California.