213 was kept by Los Angeles exchanges 1 (Downtown/Echo Park), 7 (South Park/Exposition Park) and 10 (Westlake/Koreatown), while exchanges 2 (Silverlake/Los Feliz), 3 (Eagle Rock/Highland Park), 4 (El Sereno/Lincoln Heights), 5 (Boyle Heights/East Los Angeles), 6 (Watts/Vernon/South Gate), 8 (South Los Angeles), 9 (Hyde Park/Athens), 11 (West Adams/Jefferson Park), 12 (Leimert Park/Baldwin Hills), 13 (Hancock Park/Fairfax District) and 14 (Hollywood/Hollywood Hills) switched to area code 323. This split made 213 one of the geographically smallest numbering plan areas in the nation, covering only Downtown Los Angeles and its immediately adjoining neighborhoods, such as Chinatown. Completely surrounding 213, 323 included most of the remainder of central Los Angeles, including Hollywood, as well as several neighboring cities, including Bell, Huntington Park and Montebello. Since 2017: Overlay codes Despite Southern California's continued growth and the proliferation of cell phones and pagers, 213 was not projected to exhaust until 2050. In contrast, 323 was projected to exhaust in 2017. Since 213 still had an abundance of numbers available, the California Public Utilities Commission approved a plan that erased the boundaries between both area codes, converting the area to an overlay plan for all of central Los Angeles. Since this change went into full effect on July 8, 2017, telephone companies have been able to assign any available 213 numbers in the former 323 area and vice versa, and customers with 213 or 323 phone numbers have been required to dial the area code for all calls within the area. This change returned 213 to some areas that had used it for more than half a century prior to 1998. Service area Cities and communities in the overlay complex include: Alhambra (mostly served by area code 626) Bell Bell Gardens (also served by area code 562) Beverly Hills (mostly served by area code 310) City Terrace Commerce (small portion in area code 562) Cudahy East Los Angeles Florence Florence-Graham Hawthorne (mostly served by area code 310) Huntington Park Inglewood (mostly served by area code 310) Ladera Heights (also served by area code 310) West Hollywood (also served by area code 310) Los Angeles Boyle Heights Chinatown Crenshaw Downtown Eagle Rock Echo Park El Sereno Exposition Park Hermon Highland Park Hollywood Hyde Park Koreatown Lincoln Heights Los Feliz South Central Silver Lake Watts Westlake Lynwood (mostly served by area code 310) Maywood Montebello Monterey Park (also served by area code 626) Pasadena (mostly served by area