You are them.
But yes, “the 101” was just about the only common definite article used for a freeway up North. I never hear “the 880”, just “the 101”.
When the state splits up, they can have everything south of Monterey County as far as I’m concerned. And if the folks way up north want out, that’s OK, too. Leave us Mendocino, and everything north of that is yours.
You get stuck with Fresno, we get stuck with Bakersfield.
Works for me!
Well, you see, there is only a finite number of them available in the universe. Don’t want to see them all used up!
With the price of housing in The Bay Area, Fresno is an up and coming bedroom community. A 3 hour commute, one way , ain’t so bad! Besides, it’s only the last hour and half in the morning that has real traffic. And in the evening, once you’re past San Juan Bautista, it’s smooth sailing all the way home.
One person did it for decades, and is still doing it in reruns. Jack Webb. “This is The City. Los Angeles, California. I work here. I carry a badge.”
Ok, I have fixed that. I have set a infinite amount of monkeys at a infinite amount of typewriters with infinte paper and ink, they will produce a infinite amount of Definite Articles. You’re welcome.
Frisco residents always refer to their small burg as “The City”. 
Today, I went from the Jacob Dekema Freeway to the Kumeyaay Freeway…
Well, no, I went from the 805 to the 8…
In the L.A. area, a lot of freeways have names, but here in San Diego, we pretty much only use the numbers. And nearly everyone says “The.”
Lived in the Bay Area all my life. Born in 1956. I have never heard anyone, ever, speak of 101 as “the” 101. And only sometimes, “The Bayshore.” That’s because it is abbreviated from the name of 101 right there, The Bayshore Highway (as far as I know, Bayshore is the name of 101 just where it skirt the bay along the San Mateo peninsula; the rest of its long length, 101 is just 101).
Oldtimers at least will call 880 “The Nimitz” though.
None of this “The Number” thing. That’s for the Southrons.
I grew up calling San Francisco “the City”. That’s because there simply were no other cities worthy of the name in the whole Bay Area. If you wanted to hear opera, go to a national-level stage play, a major art museum, eat at a fine restaurant, or anything else a real city has to offer, there was only one place to go.
Egad, forty-nine posts about an article, are we all English majors? I’m impressed and stupefied.
Where is “Frisco”? Never heard of it.
I’ve lived near quite a few cities, and have never known one where people did NOT refer to it as “The City”. When folks here say they are going to “The City”, I usually ask them where they are going in San Jose, but only to mess with them bit. Of course they mean San Francisco.
Here in the Valley, we dont say “The City” about LA.
I spent about 4 hours today on the major north-south artery between Los Banos and Santa Clarita. Was I on I-5, The 5, or just 5?
The Grapevine (for part of it), the 5 or I5. Never just 5.
If you are driving north on THE 1 and pass through Santa Maria, you are now leaving Southern California. A few miles further on is San Luis Obispo, the southern outpost of Nor Cal, complete with the requisite “Ain’t we hot shit?” attitude.
The only reference to Interstate whatever is the recent tendency of radio and TV announcers to say “The eye-five”. This is creeping Norcalism, and must be stopped.
Inside the greater SoCal urban sprawl it would be the 5… It becomes the I-5 as you head further north. Or you can call it the Santa Ana Freeway.
I had a confusing conversation with a person who I didn’t know was from SoCal once where she kept talking about being from the South Bay and it took me awhile to realize it didn’t mean San Jose.
NorCal and SoCal should put aside their differences over “the” and stick to making fun of people who say “pop.”
I don’t know anyone that will say Fresno is part of Southern California. I guess it’s more central than northern, but the Bay Area is slightly closer.
Speaking of “The Nimitz” I just noticed on Google Maps that I-80 is now labeled “Dwight D. Eisenhower Highway.” Anybody call it “The Ike”?
Nitpick: Yes, San Jose turned a million and is #10 on the List of Largest U.S. Cities. But SF isn’t far behind — it’s #13 on the same list. (It was #8 in 1890.)
I believe that’s the general name for basically the entire interstate highway system, not a specific part.