Area codes 714 and 657 are telephonearea codes in theNorth American Numbering Plan (NANP) for the southern part of theU.S. state ofCalifornia. The numbering plan area comprises northernOrange County, a portion ofLos Angeles County, and theSleepy Hollow andCarbon Canyon areas ofChino Hills inSan Bernardino County. Area code 714 was assigned to a part ofnumbering plan area 213 in 1951, and 657 was added in 2008 to form anoverlay complex.
In 1947, when theAmerican Telephone and Telegraph Company (AT&T) devised the first nationwidetelephone numbering plan and assigned theoriginal North American area codes, the state of California was divided into three numbering plan areas: 213,415, and916, for the southern, central, and northern parts of the state, respectively.[1]The area served by 213 extended fromMexican border to theCentral Coast. Starting in the 1950s, Southern California experienced rapid expansion of telephone service, requiring area code 213 to be split five times by 1998. The first split became necessary in 1951, when most of the southern and eastern portion, includingSan Diego and most ofOrange County, was assigned area code 714 in aflash cut, without a permissive dialing period[further explanation needed]. This included most of Southern California, generally south and east of Los Angeles, extending to theArizona andNevada state lines to the east, and south as far as the Mexican border (what is now area codes442/760,619,858,909, and951). Despite Southern California's growth in the second half of the 20th century, this configuration remained in place for 31 years.
On January 1, 1982, most of the southern and eastern portion, centered aroundSan Diego and the desert areas, becamearea code 619. In 1992, easternLos Angeles and theInland Empire becamearea code 909. On April 18, 1998, the southern cities of Orange County were split from 714, creatingarea code 949.
By 2007, 714 was running out of telephone numbers due to Southern California's continued growth and the proliferation of mobile telephones. As a solution, area code 657 wasoverlaid onto the 714 territory on September 23, 2008.[2]
The service area includes northern and western Orange County, except for portions ofLa Habra and all ofSeal Beach,Los Alamitos, the far northwestern portion ofBrea, and the western portions ofLa Palma, which have always been in the same area code asLong Beach—currently the562 area code. This is probably because at the time those splits first occurred, while most cities in Southern California were provided primary local telephone service from what was thenPacific Bell (nowAT&T), the cities listed above were served byGTE, the primary telephone provider for Long Beach (this territory has since become part ofVerizon, and nowFrontier Communications).
Today, five cities "straddle" the 657/714 and 949 area codes:Costa Mesa,Irvine,Santa Ana,Tustin, andNewport Beach.
Cities in the numbering plan area includeTustin,Placentia,Anaheim,Buena Park,Costa Mesa (unique because it is split between the 714/657 and949 area codes, at Wilson Street and along Newport Boulevard),Cypress,Fountain Valley,Fullerton,Orange,Garden Grove,Santa Ana,Villa Park,Yorba Linda, portions ofLa Habra, and most ofBrea andHuntington Beach.
| North:626,909/840 | ||
| West:310/424 (offshore islands),562 | 657/714 | East:951 |
| South:949, Pacific Ocean |