Big ups to my former buddy at the Daily Cal, Ron Lin, who has this LA Times piece from my old stomping grounds, Santa Monica:
By Rong-Gong Lin II
Times Staff Writer
June 4, 2005
To some people on the Westside and in the South Bay, 310 is more than just an area code.
It’s a geographic marker Ñ one that many associate with wealth, glamour and the beach.
“It stirs up feeling of ‘Ah, Ooh.’ You always have great expectations,” said Larry Steele, who with his partners recently christened their new Santa Monica restaurant 310 Lounge & Bistro. “It’s a hot name.”
It may soon be an unavailable name.
State officials are considering a plan that would create California’s first area code overlay. If approved, new phone customers within the boundaries of 310 probably would receive a new area code: 424.
That means that all customers within the 310 would have to dial an area code before the number Ñ and that neighbors could have different area codes.
