Area codes 310 and 424

[3] However, the plan was changed to a split of 310, when the California Public Utilities Commission decided that an overlay would have disadvantaged subscribers of smaller companies in requiring ten-digit dialing.

Previously, several proposals intended to split 310 at Imperial Highway, a major east–west thoroughfare that marks the southern boundary of Los Angeles International Airport.

Announcement of the 424 overlay created an uproar in Los Angeles's politically powerful Westside community, in part because the change would necessitate dialing ten digits even when calling local numbers.

Championed by Los Angeles Times columnist Robert Scheer in the paper's Santa Monica insert section, a protest movement arose in May 1999, focusing on the idea of telephone-number conservation.

Responding to the controversy, the California State Assembly passed the Consumer Area Code Relief Act of 1999 on September 9, 1999, and the 424 overlay was tabled.