213 AREA CODE REGION TO BE SPLIT IN '98.Byline: Dave McNary Daily News Staff Writer State regulators decided Wednesday to split the 213 area code by creating a new code for a doughnut-shape region surrounding downtown Los Angeles Downtown Los Angeles is the central business district of Los Angeles, California, located close to the geographic center of the metropolitan area. The sprawling, multi-centered megacity is such that its downtown core is often considered just another district like Hollywood or . The new code, 323, will be used starting June 13, 1998, while a three-mile-wide area centered downtown will keep the 213 code, the Public Utilities Commission said. The decision to create the state's 21st phone code was the result of the booming demand for new numbers. David Dicksteing of Pacific Bell said 80 percent of new numbers in the 213 area are for nontraditional lines such as fax machines, modems, cellular phones, automated teller machines automated teller machine (ATM), device used by bank customers to process account transactions. Typically, a user inserts into the ATM a special plastic card that is encoded with information on a magnetic strip. and pagers. About 7.9 million lines are possible in the 213 area without a split, and 65 percent to 70 percent of them already are in use. The 323 area code will be assigned to the portion of Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. between downtown and Beverly Hills Beverly Hills, city (1990 pop. 31,971), Los Angeles co., S Calif., completely surrounded by the city of Los Angeles; inc. 1914. The largely residential city is home to many motion-picture and television personalities. , along with Bell, Commerce, Cudahy, Eagle Rock, East Los Angeles East Los Angeles, uninc. city (1990 pop. 126,379), Los Angeles co., S Calif., a residential suburb of Los Angeles, in an industrial area. It has a large Mexican-American population. There is a performing arts center and a cultural center. A junior college is there. , Highland Park Highland Park. 1 City (1990 pop. 30,575), Lake co., NE Ill., a suburb of Chicago on Lake Michigan; inc. 1869. It is a retail business and medical center for the North Shore area. , Hollywood, Huntington Park, Maywood, Montebello, Monterey Park, South Gate, Vernon, Watts and West Hollywood. Pacific Bell officials opposed the idea of creating a doughnut-shape area, a first in California. They said it would make more sense to create an ``overlay'' area in which new customers are given a new code number. But the PUC (Public Utility Commission) A regulatory body in every state in the U.S. that governs public utilities within its jurisdiction such as electricity, gas, oil, sewer, water, transportation and telephone service. Some states call it the Public Service Commission (PSC). decided in December that overlays would not be allowed before 2001. The panel based its decision on consumer preferences. The imposition of the 323 area code will not affect its seven-digit numbers. For six months after the 323 area code comes into use, calls to that area using the 213 code still will go through. Regulators believe the 323 area code will have enough capacity for 11 to 13 years before another area code need be created, while the smaller 213 area should have capacity for 5-1/2 to seven years. The most recent creation of a new telephone code came last month when the 562 area, southeastern Los Angeles County, was split off from the 310 area code. The 818 area code will be split later this year, when northern Los Angeles County will form the 626 area. Southern Orange County will form the 949 area, splitting from the 714 area in April 1998. |
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