GROWTH WATCH : Grids and Area Codes

Living in the amorphous city that is Los Angeles, there are few touch points in common that provide what one sociologist calls the “mental maps” of our lives. The 213 area code and the Thomas Brothers street guides are two of those key guideposts. Now they’re changing, and it’s downright disorienting.

Corner shops get gobbled up by mini-malls, charming bungalows get replaced by charmless condos and L.A. folks usually go with the flow. We Angelenos are used to reinventing the city, and even reinventing ourselves--but we do have our limits, and an additional area code and new street maps are testing them.

The trusty Thomas Bros. maps, after 76 years, renumbered its pages and grids. This is no small matter for any driver, whether taxi operator, police officer or parent/chauffeur. The company says it had to redo its much-relied-on maps; the area had outgrown the old ones.

Growth is also what spurred the additional 310 area code, which goes into effect today. The phone company doesn’t remember much public brouhaha over the introduction of the San Fernando-San Gabriel Valley 818 area code seven years ago.

But now, maybe for the first time, many South Bay and Westside residents in the new 310 area are huffing, “Hey, we’re Los Angeles!,” as they protest their loss of 213. What’s this? Could ties to an area code be bringing about a new sense of identity for Los Angeles?

No, we didn’t think so either. But it was a nice thought. Losing your mental maps, even temporarily, can do strange things to people.