Is a 212 area code really a big deal?? (New York, Bedford: homes, neighborhood)

[NYC Housewife]

Originally Posted by Biskit

212 is definitely a big deal. I don't take anyone with a 646 or 347 area code seriously, they're mostly just Midwest transplants. 917 gets a bit more respect. Don't even mention 201, 516 or 631 unless you're calling a roofing company. I have a 213 area code because I got my phone in LA. It causes so much confusion when I dial dominoes locally. I love it.

LOL! Funny! I see you are in Astoria....hmmm-doesn't that make you a 718??!!!

[YBF]

Originally Posted by Rachael84

On the topic of area codes, I'm glad I'm going back to a 516 area code when I move to Nassau County. I lived in Suffolk county growing up, and we had to change from 516 to 631 about 10 years ago. We were kind of annoyed. Now I'll be getting it back again

I remember this!!!! I hated this too...everybody know 516 but then 631 came and it was like seperating the Island...."oh you live in suffolk county?" LOL but most of my cells have been 516 because I was borderline Nassau most of that time...now my number is 347 and I refuse to change it to and Atlanta area code!!!! I guess its just a silly thing but I just cant let it go

[holden125]

Originally Posted by Biskit

212 is definitely a big deal. I don't take anyone with a 646 or 347 area code seriously, they're mostly just Midwest transplants. 917 gets a bit more respect.

That's kind of silly, though.

My friend was born at Bellevue and grew up in the projects on the LES. He's 43 and has lived every minute of his life in Manhattan. He's got a 646 cell phone and a 646 home phone now, since he had to change his home phone that they had for years due to a crazy stalker girl.

My other friend moved here like 3 years ago from Arizona, has no clue about New York, and has a 917. So it's hardly a good measuring stick of NYC cred.

There was a story in the Times about this maybe 10-12 years ago, all the people freaking out about not having the 212. Someone wrote a funny letter about the city's stature not being based on the area code, but the other way around.

That whole "I won't go out with a 718" is pretty pathetic. No wonder the woman in the article was 50 and alone.

Manhattan Is Awash In Area Code Angst - The New York Times

Where Self-Esteem Means Area Code 212 - The New York Times

[anders]

Originally Posted by holden125

My friend was born at Bellevue and grew up in the projects on the LES. He's 43 and has lived every minute of his life in Manhattan. He's got a 646 cell phone and a 646 home phone now, since he had to change his home phone that they had for years due to a crazy stalker girl.

My other friend moved here like 3 years ago from Arizona, has no clue about New York, and has a 917. So it's hardly a good measuring stick of NYC cred.

Off the top of my head: Other Manhattanites who have 646 instead of 212 -- and thus should lack serious cred -- include:
the Baryshnikov Arts Center; the Jewish Heritage Museum, plus a bunch of other museums' departments; a lot of JP Morgan Chase branches (especially East Side and Wall St.); numerous courts (State Supreme civil-criminal-appellate term, and NYC civil, crim and surrogate); and a significant-and-growing number of other NYC government entities -- including WNYC Radio, NYC Parks and Recreation, and NYC Police Dep't HQ.

Meanwhile ... I know a lot of non-NYer transplants and Brooklynites -- and even non-NYer-transplants-to-Brooklyn -- who have 212 and 917 cell phones.

[jessemh431]

Well West LA just got a new area code a few years ago and we all think of people with 424 numbers as "n00bs". LOL. The "310" is the main number we have here and in LA, because we are (sadly) so materialistic, the 310 is a status symbol and sometimes we even use that as our location. If you have an 818 or 310 number, then you are cool. But we just got 424 with the 310 and the 818 (the valley) is getting 747 this summer. Anything else just doesn't feel right. We have 213, 323, 562, 626, 661, 714, 949, 959, 909, and I think there might be a couple more...I'm not sure.

Bottom line, LA is more materialistic and the 310 and the 818 are regarded more highly than the 424 and 747. My mom tried to convince me that I'll be a loser in NYC if I move there since I won't have a 212 and they won't like my 310 area code but I know she's lying because she just doesn't want me moving there.

[Americanboy]

"212" area code is actually not easy to get, sometimes providers have them but most of the time they don't.

[jessemh431]

Oh. So it's not like 310? We have enough but they just wanted another before they actually run out.

[anders]

Originally Posted by F430F1

"212" area code is actually not easy to get, sometimes providers have them but most of the time they don't.

212 is _not_ that rare a bird. Mobile providers seem to dish it out via whim.
And though it's now easier to get as a cell # (even outside of Manhattan), maybe half the people I know w/new Manhattan landlines got a 212, and none had cared enough to ask for it.

When 212 began to re-burst forth, friends of mine kidded that this meant either
(a) that screaming hordes must be fleeing Manhattan en masse, a la sci-fi-horror flick, and freeing up 212 numbers; or
(b) that the phone honchos were cranking out a glut of new 212s specifically so that 212 would become randomly unspecial, since we're moving toward all-portability anyway. [As it is, boroughs-ites can get it as a cell #, and ex-NYers can take 212 with them when they move cross-country.]

[holden125]

Originally Posted by jessemh431

My mom tried to convince me that I'll be a loser in NYC if I move there since I won't have a 212 and they won't like my 310 area code but I know she's lying because she just doesn't want me moving there.

Your mom said that. Man, that's why I don't live in LA.

I definitely hope she's lying because she wants to keep you close to home.

[schiphol]

Theory: Maybe all the old time 212 people are moving or dying off. My grandmother had her 212 number since the 70s. I think that's one number besides my SSN that I will never forget. She passed early last year, no one took over the apartment, so the number was freed up. Perhaps that's what happening in Manhattan. I now live in Miami but there is no way I will give up my number. But, there was an exodus back in the early 2000s to the suburbs or other states, maybe people no longer had a need. They started families elsewhere, took on new numbers, etc.