Los Angeles is running out of new phone numbers for the area code that covers the west-of-downtown core of this metropolis.

We're talking, of course, about 323.

“The 323 area code is expected to use up all the available prefixes by March 2018,” states the California Public Utilities Commission. For that reason, hearings will commence this month to inform you that a new “overlay” area code is coming to the 323 zone.

What is this new area code, you ask?

It's an old area code — 213. Apparently there are enough of L.A.'s original area code numbers, which now serve mostly downtown, that you'll be able to get a 213 number as far west as Beverly Hills and as far east as Rosemead, where getting 323 digits is still possible.

The commission says 323 serves parts of the city of L.A. west and south of downtown as well as all or part of Alhambra, Bell, Bell Gardens, Beverly Hills, Commerce, Cudahy, Glendale, Hawthorne, Huntington Park, Inglewood, Lynwood, Maywood, Montebello, Monterey Park, Pasadena, Rosemead, South Gate, South Pasadena, Vernon and West Hollywood.

Multiple meetings will be held Sept. 8, 9 and 10 in South Gate, downtown, South Pasadena and Koreatown, the PUC says.

It sounds like this is going to happen whether you like it or not. The meetings aren't intended for feedback. They're designed to get the word out.

Says the PUC:

Adding the 213 area code to the 323 area will provide additional prefixes and ensure new telephone numbers are available for the 323 area code customers. It is customary to introduce another area code at least six months before the existing area code will use up all of its prefixes. Therefore, the 213 will be added to the 323 by November 2017.

This already happened to 310, which now has 424 as an overlay that tells your friends you're a Westside newbie. Having a 213 number, however, is pretty O.G. if you ask us.

You still have a few years to get your 323 on, though. So go on, then.

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