310

Area code 310 is the California telephone area code which was split from Area code 213 on November 2, 1991. Area code 310 is roughly coterminous with the West Los Angeles and South Bay areas of Los Angeles County, including offshore Catalina Island, located 40 km (26 mi.) south of the mainland portion of Los Angeles County. Area code 213, which at its inception covered all of Southern California, is now reserved exclusively for the area of Downtown Los Angeles.

"The 310" is often used as shorthand for the West Side of Los Angeles and the South Bay region south of LAX. 310 is one of the best-known area codes due to its frequent citation in popular culture (e.g. 310 Motoring[1]). Unlike Manhattan's 646 overlay, when 310 was introduced it immediately became more desirable than the older 213 because of its connection with the affluence of Beverly Hills, Malibu, Santa Monica, and other parts of West Los Angeles.

Splits and overlay controversy

The south and east portions of 310 (roughly the Gateway Cities area of Los Angeles County from Long Beach to Whittier) became the 562 area code on January 25, 1997.

In lieu of executing an additional split, a new area code 424 overlay for the entire 310 region was first announced in early 1999. Previously, several proposals had been made to split 310 at Imperial Highway, a major east-west thoroughfare that marks the southern boundary of Los Angeles International Airport. The South Bay, below the boundary, would have received area code 424. South Bay governments and businesses opposed such a move, since it would require costly changes to business cards, stationery, signage, and other business communications.

The announcement of the 424 overlay created an uproar in Los Angeles's politically powerful Westside community, in part because the change would necessitate dialing 10 digits even when calling local numbers. Championed by Los Angeles Times columnist Robert Scheer in the paper's Santa Monica insert section, a protest[2] movement arose in May 1999, focusing on the idea of telephone-number conservation. In a carry-over from the analog phone-system days, numbers were still being distributed to telephone companies in blocks of 10,000 -- leading to a huge volume of unused telephone numbers in each area code. Responding to the controversy, the California Assembly passed the Consumer Area Code Relief Act of 1999 on September 9, 1999, and the 424 overlay was tabled.

Having been staved off nearly seven years, the 424 overlay was finally implemented on July 26, 2006 and new telephone numbers issued in the 310 area code may now begin with either 310 or 424. Ten-digit dialing within the 310 area code became optional on January 1, 2006 and mandatory on July 26, 2006.

See also

• List of California area codes

• List of NANP area codes
• North American Numbering Plan
• North American Numbering Plan Administration
• NANPA Area Code Map of California
• Whitepages Area code Map

External links

1. 310 Motoring - Luxury Auto Customizer & Shoe Manufacturer
2. History of the 1999 Area-Code Overlay Protest Movement

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