Results tagged “areacode”

Back in April of 2008 we remarked that the announcement of a new overlay area code--a code within an existing code area for use with new numbers when all previous numbers have been assigned--was "not a big deal." Okay, fine, so soon people in the 818 might have to accept a 747 area code, and everyone within the area would have to dial each other using all 10 digits.

If you've been sitting on the edge of your seat waiting to grab up the best 747 area code number (747-666-6666?), today is the first day to grab one. The San Fernando Valley has been in overlay mode--that means you have to first dial 1 when calling within the 818 area code--since last month. Starting today, new phone line activations can be in the new 747 area code or still within the 818 one until it's fully exhausted.

Remember to dot your "I's" and cross your "T's." A mansion in unincorporated Chatsworth that sustained $3 millions in fire damage early yesterday morning had an outdated phone number attached to its alarm system. Starting last Saturday, two days before the fire, any local calls made within the 818 area code required 1-818 before dialing local numbers because of the new 747 area code overlay. The auto call to alert the local fire department never made it, which may have caused a delay in their arrival. Because the home was inside a gated community and initially there was low water pressure, firefighter's response times attack on the fire was additionally delayed. All four occupants of the house escaped safely and one firefighter broke his ankle.

If you're in the Valley, you'll be dialing 11 numbers to reach your next door neighbor beginning tomorrow when the 747 area code lands. "The 747 area code is only the third overlay in the history of California, where a fourth will take effect later this year in a region stretching from San Diego County to Bishop," notes the Glendale News-Press. The most recent overlay in the Los Angeles area involved the tony 310 area code when 424 was overlayed in 2006. That state has 29 area codes in total.

What is a slight inconvenience and change of habit to most people is freaking others out. Official as of yesterday, the Valley is getting a new area code, 747, that will overlay the proud 818 (come on, 747 is much cooler than the 310 overlay, 424).

Hear that sound? That's not a jetliner landing at Van Nuys Airport. Those are moans and groans about the impending new area code overlay in the San Fernando Valley.

Recent major events for the LAFD include last night's apartment fires in North Hollywood and Westchester. Busy day on LAPD's blog: a drive-by shooting yesterday, a labor day homicide, Congressman Xavier Becerra's office burglarized, two fatal Skid Row stabbings, a Carl's Jr. robbery and a fatal shooting this morning in South LA. Sparked by the recent heat-reated power outages, Matt Littman at the Huffington Post asks if Los Angeles is in permanent decay: "It...