I've got hos....in different area codes...

This is just a random thought I had, but I remember reading an article in the LA Times around the time the 424 area code overlay was being enacted. And if you don't know what I'm talking about, in short, because of the popularity of the 310 area code and proliferation of mobile phones, 310 started running out of phone numbers, and rather than splitting the Westside into 2 area codes, they decided to issue all new phone numbers under the 424 area code, which distressed a lot of Westsiders because now they would have to reprogram all of their phones to dial all 10 numbers, instead of just the normal 7 for local calls (if they wanted to dial a 310 number from their 310 phone, they would have to enter the 310 XXX-XXXX).

Well, the article touched upon the social connotations that area codes can convey. The reason 310 is so popular is because it's associated with the affluent, and hip by association, Westside (Malibu, Santa Monica, Westwood, Century City, Brentwood, Bel Air, and Beverly Hills)*. In image-concious Los Angeles, having a 310 number tells other people that you are part of an elite group, like having 90210 at the end of your mailing address. The article goes on to talk about how the 818 is associated with the less hip Valley, the 213 or 323 with blue-collar LA, the 949 with the affluent part of "The O.C.," and so on.

Well, here's my random thought. Do you remember back when before Cerritos was 562, and after we were 213, we were also part of the coveted 310 crowd? It's crazy how the amount of phone numbers just propogated over the last 20 years. 20 years ago, 213 was enough to cover all of LA (310 was created in November 1991, according to Wikipedia) and only 6 years later in 1997, 562 was created. If you guys think about it, we were just about done with high school when we switched from 310 to 562, yet it seems like 562 has been with us for so long that it's hard to imagine that 213 and 310 used to grace the front of my home telephone number. And if it weren't for an old sign in my garage that my parents use to use to advertise a rental home--a sign that first had (213) written on it, then crossed out to say (310), but alas, no (562)--I'd still find it hard to imagine. Anyhow, that was just a random thought.

*Disclaimer: Although my cell phone is a 310 number, I picked my number before it was hip to get a 310 number. It was done out of practicality, as I got my phone when I was in college, and that was a time before free long distance was the norm in cell phone plans and many of my friends still called me from land lines, and those who called me the most were probably calling me from a 310 number at school.