The history of the 310 area code

Before 1991, it was all 213

When the first area codes were drawn up in 1947, Los Angeles County got 213, and so did the rest of the southern third of California. The code was divided several times as the region grew. In Los Angeles County, 805 took the north of the county in 1957, and 818 took the San Fernando and San Gabriel Valleys in 1984.

The 1991 split

To relieve another shortage of numbers in 213, its western and southern parts became a new area code, 310, on November 2, 1991. The new code took in the Westside, Malibu and the rest of the coast, the South Bay, and for its first few years Long Beach and the cities of the southeast county too. Downtown Los Angeles and the districts around it kept 213.

Long Beach moves to 562

By the mid-1990s 310 was short of numbers as well. On January 25, 1997, its eastern part, Long Beach included, was split off as area code 562. Since then 310 has covered the Westside, the coast from Malibu to the Palos Verdes Peninsula, and the South Bay down to San Pedro.

An overlay that took seven years

In May 1998 the California Public Utilities Commission approved a different kind of relief for 310: an overlay, which adds a second area code to the same territory instead of redrawing the map. It was the first overlay planned anywhere in California. The new code, 424, was scheduled to open on July 17, 1999, and every call in the area would have needed 1 and ten digits.

In June 1999 Assemblyman Wally Knox and others petitioned the commission to stop the overlay and end the ten-digit dialing rule. The commission suspended 424 before it opened, and that September it kept the overlay on hold and ordered a trial of number pooling instead, which hands carriers numbers in blocks of 1,000 rather than 10,000 so the existing supply lasts longer.

In 2000 the commission adopted a backup plan to split 310 along Imperial Highway, with El Segundo, Torrance, San Pedro and the rest of the area to the south moving to 424. It was never carried out.

424 arrives in 2006

In August 2005, with only nine unassigned prefixes left in 310, the commission chose the overlay after all. It found that a split would divide communities and force businesses to change numbers already printed on their cards and letterheads, while an overlay leaves every existing number alone.

Dialing 1 plus the area code became optional on December 31, 2005 and required on July 26, 2006, for local calls too. New lines could be given 424 numbers from August 26, 2006.

Getting a 310 number today

Since 2006, a new line anywhere in the area can be given a 310 or a 424 number, depending on what the carrier has available. The commission warned at the time that a home or business that already had 310 lines might get a 424 for its next one.

So the dependable way to get a 310 number is to buy an existing one and transfer it to your carrier. That is what every number on this site is: a 310 number sold by Exclusive Digits, ready to move to the carrier you already use.