Area Code Chic Projects Hometown Pride

Aug. 26, 2006 — -- Area codes have long been synonymous with their cities -- New York, 212; Los Angeles, 213; Chicago, 312.

But the days of single area code identification are over. The dominance of the cell phone has made the area code a symbol of where you are from, not where you are at.

Whether it's college students far from home or suburbanites moving to the big city, no one seems to want to lose their hometown number.

"You might wear a sweatshirt that has the name of your hometown, but you can accomplish the same thing by giving someone your telephone number that has your area code," said Becky Worley, ABCNews' technology contributor. "That identifies where you're from."

In other words, in the age of cell phones, you don't need a 90210 ZIP code to show off your Beverly Hills roots anymore.

After all, the proliferation of cell phones has contributed to a boom in demand for phone numbers and new localized area codes.

There's a downside to that, too. With new area codes popping up all the time, the cachet of a well-known area code is harder to come by. The issue even popped up on an episode of "Seinfeld," when Elaine told Jerry she cried when she got assigned a 718 area code rather than New York's more fashionable 212.

Rap stars have long used area codes to represent their local allegiances. Eminem, in the movie "8 Mile," referred to "everybody from the 313," meaning Detroit.

And "American Idol" winner Reuben Studdard introduced the world to his 205 Alabama area code in 2003 by wearing a shirt emblazoned with the number.

"If you think about it, your area code is a little bit like a coffee table book," Worley said. "It's something to talk about with someone when you first meet them."

It can even help in conversation with the opposite sex, as one man told "Good Morning America."

"If a girl has the same area code," he said, "that's common ground. And any common ground you can use to talk to a pretty lady in a bar, you are gonna use it."