San Fernando Valley gets new 747 area code, has to dial 11 digits

Owners of existing businesses in the San Fernando Valley won’t have to change business cards and stationery to reflect a new area code that goes into effect tomorrow. They will have to get used to dialing 11 digits. KPCC’s Patricia Nazario spoke with a pet groomer about the change.

Owners of existing businesses in the San Fernando Valley won’t have to change business cards and stationery to reflect a new area code that goes into effect tomorrow. They will have to get used to dialing 11 digits. KPCC’s Patricia Nazario spoke with a pet groomer about the change.

[Barking; “C’mon. Come here. C’mon.”]

Patricia Nazario: Afternoons can get pretty hectic at Heart to Heart in Sylmar as pet owners drop off their beloved companions.

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Pavel Vesely: Same as last time?
Ed Gonzalez: Yeah.
Vesely: OK.
Gonzalez: He’s got arthritis…

Nazario: Ed Gonzalez and his poodle-mix Vagabond are among the shop’s most loyal customers. Owner Pavel Vesely says his groomers can condition, cut, and coif 60 dogs on a good day. Vesely says the new dialing rules will take a bite out of the fun of managing the front desk.

Vesely: Really, I don’t use the fax machine over here so I don’t have to reprogram that, but all the customers that I have to call every day to pick up their dogs, I gonna have to be dialing all the extra digits. You know, four extra digits with the one.

Nazario: That’s 1 plus 8-1-8 or 7-4-7, followed by the phone number. Under the new dialing rules, everyone in the San Fernando Valley will have to press 11 digits to make a local call – even to phone the house next door. State utility officials said they had to do it to accommodate the growing demand for cell phones, BlackBerries, and voicemail lines.