[Ads-l] "The 91"

[Jim Parish]

I'm currently rereading Tim Powers' novel _Last Call_, and was just 
struck by something. Powers specializes in fantasy of the "secret 
history" type, so the following is set in (what purports to be) our 
world and timeline. In my experience, Powers does his homework, but the 
following seems like an anachronism to me.

The first chapter is set in Las Vegas in 1943, and it's written in tight 
third person, through the eyes of one of the characters.

"They drove around, and found a new casino called the Moulin Rouge in 
the colored neighborhood west of the 91."

We've discussed the use of "the :number:" to refer to highways, but I 
was under the impression that that was a Southern California innovation, 
dating to sometime in the 1980s and usually referring to interstates . 
Would someone in Las Vegas in the '40s use it, to refer to (I presume) a 
state highway? Anyone know?

Jim Parish

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