Wildfire in Los Angeles-Route Fire

[RetiredAndLovingIt]

It's grown to 4600 acres in about 8 hours and evacuations are in place.
I'm about 95 miles away and the stink from the smoke is in my house right now thanks to my swamp cooler sucking it in. The wind must be blowing in our direction and the local nextdoor app is blowing up with worried neighbors since it smells so strong. These poor firefighters have a big problem on their hands in this awful heat and strong winds gusts.

https://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/...h-fire-5-freeway-castaic-los-angeles/2975650/

 

[Souschef]

I-5 is closed in both directions, This is the main route between LA and the central valley

 

[Teacher Terry]

That’s awful. I hope they can get it under control quickly.

 

[W2R]

I-5 is closed in both directions, This is the main route between LA and the central valley

I hope that's not near you. Sounds really bad if they closed the I-5 in both directions!

 

[swakyaby]

My DB1 who lives 18 miles away in San Fernando reports the smoke is heavy. My DB2 who lives only 4 miles south of the Route fire in Castaic just now responded that he doesn’t smell the smoke. He can see the I-5 freeway from his home, and he says the northbound traffic seems to be making some movement.

 

[swakyaby]

Apparently the reason DB2 thought northbound traffic on I-5 appeared to be moving is because they are being turned around close to the fire. Interstate 5 remains closed.

 

[EarlyandLate]

Hope they get it under control quickly! I lived in CA about 3.5 years and one place i used to live was devastated a few years ago. Shocking to see it!
A little off topic here, but one thing I never understood when I lived in LA was why all the freeways are "The xx". That was strange to me. I lived a few blocks off The 405. How did that start? Anybody know?

 

[W2R]

Hope they get it under control quickly! I lived in CA about 3.5 years and one place i used to live was devastated a few years ago. Shocking to see it!
A little off topic here, but one thing I never understood when I lived in LA was why all the freeways are "The xx". That was strange to me. I lived a few blocks off The 405. How did that start? Anybody know?

I don't know! Guess that's just the way it is.

Here's another one: I lived in California (both northern and southern) for a while, and what drives Frank nuts is I still sometimes use the word "freeway" instead of "interstate". Don't know if I picked that up in California or some other state. To me the two words are equivalent (unless it's a smaller road that is just a state highway, not an interstate). But I guess here in Louisiana saying "freeway" labels you as an out-of-towner or something. He says, "BUT THEY'RE ALL FREE!!"

 

[EarlyandLate]

I don't know! Guess that's just the way it is.

Here's another one: I lived in California (both northern and southern) for a while, and what drives Frank nuts is I still sometimes use the word "freeway" instead of "interstate". Don't know if I picked that up in California or some other state. To me the two words are equivalent (unless it's a smaller road that is just a state highway, not an interstate). But I guess here in Louisiana saying "freeway" labels you as an out-of-towner or something. He says, "BUT THEY'RE ALL FREE!!"

I guess I always thought of the two words as more or less equivalent, maybe with freeway being a bit broader category than interstate. It's possible I picked it up while living in the NE where there are freeways and tollways.

 

[Souschef]

I hope that's not near you. Sounds really bad if they closed the I-5 in both directions!

Thank you so much for your kind thoughts, W2R. We are far away in Ventura on the beach. We are approximately 50 miles from the fire.
However, a few years ago, we were evacuated while living in our other home
from the South Mountain fire that was about a mile from us. This is a photo from our porch.

 

[street]

Wildfires are a scary event. I wish you well and all to whom maybe in dangers way.

 

[Irishgirlyc58]

Hope they get it under control quickly! I lived in CA about 3.5 years and one place i used to live was devastated a few years ago. Shocking to see it!
A little off topic here, but one thing I never understood when I lived in LA was why all the freeways are "The xx". That was strange to me. I lived a few blocks off The 405. How did that start? Anybody know?

I don’t know how it started but it’s how us Northern Californians identify socal transplants. [emoji38]

I hope everyone stays safe. Having ran an evacuation shelter for the camp fire in 2018 my only advice is to evacuate when they tell you to. If not before.

 

[W2R]

Thank you so much for your kind thoughts, W2R. We are far away in Ventura on the beach. We are approximately 50 miles from the fire.
However, a few years ago, we were evacuated while living in our other home
from the South Mountain fire that was about a mile from us. This is a photo from our porch.

Hoping this fire doesn't move any closer to your home! We're all thinking of you, and other forum members in the area.

 

[Major Tom]

I don’t know how it started but it’s how us Northern Californians identify socal transplants. [emoji38]

Sorry for the slight thread drift, but this intrigues me. Although born and raised in the UK, I moved to Los Angeles in my early 20's and spent 20 years there before moving to the SF Bay Area. I refer to freeways as "the xxx". How do non-SoCal people refer to them? For instance, if we were talking about how to get from Northern CA down to LA, I might ask you, "Shall we take the 5 or the 101?" Does that mean, if you were asking the same question, you'd say, "Shall we take 5 or 101?" That sounds very strange to me. Is it how you'd say it?

I'm a little confused on this!

 

[Accidental Retiree]

Sorry for the slight thread drift, but this intrigues me. Although born and raised in the UK, I moved to Los Angeles in my early 20's and spent 20 years there before moving to the SF Bay Area. I refer to freeways as "the xxx". How do non-SoCal people refer to them? For instance, if we were talking about how to get from Northern CA down to LA, I might ask you, "Shall we take the 5 or the 101?" Does that mean, if you were asking the same question, you'd say, "Shall we take 5 or 101?" That sounds very strange to me. Is it how you'd say it?

I'm a little confused on this!

I’ve lived in both Northern and Southern California for over 55 years, and the way you explain it is exactly the way I’d have phrased each route— but I can’t tell you why.

It’s something wired in when I was younger, something like knowing the difference between “y’all” and “all y’all.”

 

[Irishgirlyc58]

Sorry for the slight thread drift, but this intrigues me. Although born and raised in the UK, I moved to Los Angeles in my early 20's and spent 20 years there before moving to the SF Bay Area. I refer to freeways as "the xxx". How do non-SoCal people refer to them? For instance, if we were talking about how to get from Northern CA down to LA, I might ask you, "Shall we take the 5 or the 101?" Does that mean, if you were asking the same question, you'd say, "Shall we take 5 or 101?" That sounds very strange to me. Is it how you'd say it?

I'm a little confused on this!

I’ve been in NorCal my entire life- about 2 hours east of San Francisco so not the big city.
I have always referred to interstate 5 as I-5, same for I-80.
Now typically when talking about a highway like 99 or 113, I just say the number.

I will say that these days it’s more common for people to just say the number either way but SoCal people tend to put “the” in front of the number. Generally speaking of course. Things aren’t quite as different between NorCal and socal as they were back in the 60’s and 70’s.

 

[Major Tom]

Thanks for the explanations Accidental Retiree and Irishgirlyc58. They helped!

 

[Irishgirlyc58]

Thanks for the explanations Accidental Retiree and Irishgirlyc58. They helped!

I do call everyone dude and say the phrase “you guys” to a group of people regardless of their gender.
It’s my understanding that is a California thing.

 

[Major Tom]

I do call everyone dude and say the phrase “you guys” to a group of people regardless of their gender.
It’s my understanding that is a California thing.

I do the same. Forget gender-neutral pronouns. We invented them a long time ago, with the phrase "you guys"

 

[Walt34]

I do call everyone dude and say the phrase “you guys” to a group of people regardless of their gender.
It’s my understanding that is a California thing.

"Way back when" I went to a furnace school in NJ and was informed that in that location "Dude" was fighting words, a deep and serious insult. I never did understand why. In MD, where I'm from, it's neutral, although generally restricted to males.

 

[RobbieB]

Yeah when I was driving down to Orange County my fav route was "take the 5 south, cut across on the 210 and take 605 south to 405 south"

 

[Koolau]

Yeah when I was driving down to Orange County my fav route was "take the 5 south, cut across on the 210 and take 605 south to 405 south"

I'm not from Cali, but that's the way I heard it when visiting. In the Islands, it's very simple. It's either H1, H2 or H3. That's it. That's all we've got!

 

[Dash man]

I grew up in Orange County and I learned them as the Riverside Freeway, the Pacific Coast Highway, the San Diego Freeway, the Pasadena Freeway, the Hollywood Freeway, the Santa Ana Freeway, the Orange Freeway, the 101 Freeway (aka the Ventura Highway), San Bernardino Freeway, the Grapevine, and so on.

 

[ERD50]

Sorry for the slight thread drift, but this intrigues me. Although born and raised in the UK, I moved to Los Angeles in my early 20's and spent 20 years there before moving to the SF Bay Area. I refer to freeways as "the xxx". How do non-SoCal people refer to them? For instance, if we were talking about how to get from Northern CA down to LA, I might ask you, "Shall we take the 5 or the 101?" Does that mean, if you were asking the same question, you'd say, "Shall we take 5 or 101?" That sounds very strange to me. Is it how you'd say it?

I'm a little confused on this!

More thread drift - but IME, in the Chicago area, You'd say "You takin' 90, 290, or 294?" (not "the 90" - that would sound weird to my ears). If using names for the same, it would be "You takin' the Kennedy, the Ike (Eisenhower), or the Tri-State?". OK, more like "'da Kennedy", etc.

We have Expressways and Tollways, the term "freeway" (IME) is not used here.

The thing that I think is weird, there are signs directing people to "The IKE" - now, if you were from out of town, and looking for I-290, you might also know to look for the "Eisenhower", and you might know that President Eisenhower was known as "IKE", but would you put that all together while driving and looking for a road sign? They should stick with names or numbers or both, but not 'nicknames'.

-ERD50

 

[Major Tom]

I grew up in Orange County and I learned them as the Riverside Freeway, the Pacific Coast Highway, the San Diego Freeway, the Pasadena Freeway, the Hollywood Freeway, the Santa Ana Freeway, the Orange Freeway, the 101 Freeway (aka the Ventura Highway), San Bernardino Freeway, the Grapevine, and so on.

Aaah yes, and the funny thing is that the 101 is called different things, depending on which section you're talking about - it is both the Hollywood Freeway and the Ventura Freeway, in different areas. IIRC, the Hollywood Freeway consists of parts of both the 101 and the 170 (it's been 14 years since I lived in LA, and even longer since I drove there).

We used to call the Pacific Coast Highway simply PCH.

KNX 1070 comes in well at night here - as well as across large swathes of the West in general. Occasionally I listen, and find the traffic reports nostalgic. There is something about hearing Denise Fondo name the different freeways that really makes me nostalgic for Southern California. A lot of good things happened to me in my 20's and 30's in LA. Those experiences when young stick with you for a lifetime. I thought it was neat during my recent 4 1/2 month campervan trip through CA, AZ, NM, CO, UT and NV, that I could listen to KNX at night wherever I was.