[Ads-l] "The 91"

[Peter Reitan]

A few Nevada newspapers in the 40s/50s refer to "the US 91" or "the US highway 91."
________________________________
From: Jim Parish<mailto:jparish at SIUE.EDU>
Sent: ‎3/‎25/‎2018 15:37
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU<mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Subject: "The 91"

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Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Poster:       Jim Parish <jparish at SIUE.EDU>
Subject:      "The 91"
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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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