Area code 213

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Map of California area codes in blue (and border states) with 213 in red

North American area code 213 is a California telephone area code which was one of the first three area codes created in California in October 1947. It originally contained all of Southern California and was generally associated with Los Angeles.

Over the years it has been subdivided again and again and now, completely surrounded by the 323 area code, it contains only downtown Los Angeles and its immediate environs. The subdivisions to date have been:

area code 714 (a flash-cut sometime during 1951)
area code 805 (a flash-cut sometime during 1957)
area code 818 (January 7, 1984)
area code 310 (November 2, 1991)
area code 909 (November 14, 1992)
area code 562 (January 25, 1997)
area code 760 (March 22, 1997)
area code 626 (June 14, 1997)
area code 949 (April 18, 1998)
area code 323 (June 13, 1998)
area code 661 (February 13, 1999)
area code 858 (June 12, 1999)
area code 951 (July 17, 2004)

[edit] Trivia

In 1947 when area codes were first assigned, all the telephones were rotary phones that used pulse dialing. New York City received the only 5 pulse area code (212), and the Chicago and Los Angeles areas got the only 6 pulse area codes (312 and 213 respectively). Each of those area codes has a "1" in the middle because at that time they were two of the only states that had more than one area code assigned to them.