The history of the 213 area code

One of the first area codes

Area codes date from 1947, when AT&T and the Bell System divided the United States and Canada into numbering plan areas so that long-distance calls could be routed by number. California was given three codes. 213 covered the southern third of the state, Los Angeles included.

Every original code had a 0 or a 1 as its middle digit. A 1 in the middle marked a state that was split into more than one area, which is why 213 and the other California codes have one.

Why Los Angeles got 213

A rotary phone sends each digit as a string of pulses: one pulse for a 1, two for a 2, up to ten for a 0. The planners gave the codes that took the fewest pulses to the places expected to receive the most long-distance calls. Los Angeles got 213, six pulses in all, while Chicago got 312 and Detroit 313.

Five splits, and downtown kept 213 each time

As Southern California grew, 213 ran short of numbers again and again. Each time, the outlying areas moved to a new code and downtown Los Angeles stayed on 213.

• 1951: 714 was created from 213's territory to the south and east.
• 1957: 805 was created from its territory to the north and west.
• 1984: 818 took the San Fernando Valley and cities including Glendale, Pasadena and Alhambra.
• 1991: 310 took the western, coastal, southern and eastern parts of Los Angeles County, among them West Los Angeles, LAX, San Pedro and Whittier.
• 1998: 323 took the ring of communities around downtown, leaving 213 a small central area about three miles across.

One of the smallest codes in the country

By 2016 the California Public Utilities Commission described 213 as one of the smallest area codes in the nation: three rate centers covering a few square miles of downtown Los Angeles, with 323 surrounding it like a doughnut around its hole.

The 2017 overlay and ten-digit dialing

When 213 began to run out of numbers again, the commission did not split it a sixth time. In July 2016 it decided to remove the boundary between 213 and 323, so that both codes would cover the same combined area as an overlay. Nobody had to change their number.

An overlay means two neighbors can have different area codes, so the area code has to be dialed on every call. The changeover ran in three steps:

• January 14, 2017: calls could be dialed with or without 1 and the area code.
• July 8, 2017: 1 plus the area code and number became required for all calls, even across the street.
• August 1, 2017: new lines in the old 323 area could be given 213 numbers, and new lines downtown could be given 323.

738, the third code

In March 2023 the commission approved a third code for the same area, 738, which went into service on November 1, 2024. New 738 numbers are assigned only once 213 and 323 numbers run out, and existing 213 numbers stay as they are.

Getting a 213 number now

Because 213 is now one of three overlaid codes, a new line in the area can be given a 213, a 323 or, later, a 738 number. Buying an existing 213 number is how you choose both the code and the exact digits instead of taking the number a carrier assigns.

Every number on this site is a 213 number sold by Exclusive Digits, ready to move to the carrier you already use.