ARLETA : Residents May Get Old ZIP Code Back

The case of the purloined postal code may finally be drawing to a close in Arleta.

In answer to persistent petitions from local residents, San Fernando Valley postal officials have recommended returning the 91332 postal code to Arleta--taken away and merged with Pacoima’s 91331 in 1968--and have passed that recommendation to state officials, said Terri Bouffiou, a postal spokeswoman in Los Angeles.

“It’s significant progress, because a local-level approval is necessary for it to go through,” Bouffiou said. “We did a cost analysis and realized the cost at the local level is very minimal.”

Arleta resident John Maxon, who has fought to recoup the five-digit designator since 1970, was pleased at the news Thursday. “That’s what I have been yelling for several years,” he said. “None of the postal routes would have to be changed, and they could use the same building.”

Why change the ZIP then? To Maxon and other civic boosters, the chance to have 91332 appended to Arleta symbolizes the final act of independence from neighboring Pacoima. The two were divorced in 1968--oddly enough, around the same year that postal officials decided the two communities should share ZIP codes. Both have received mail under the 91331 code ever since.

Maxon and the Arleta Chamber of Commerce claim Arletans get so peeved at the sight of Pacoima on their envelopes they simply throw them out--even sacrificing their chances at big money in the Publishers Clearinghouse Sweepstakes.

Maxon and chamber board member Hawley Smith were set to go even further.

They were going to dump sacks of discarded “Pacoima 91331” mail on the doorstep of the local post office on federal income tax deadline day, April 15. It was going to be a surprise.

Now, they will wait until regional and federal officials make their decisions, which could take four months.

“If we get it, you’re going to see a parade,” Smith said. “It’s going to get everybody excited. It’s just impossible not to get excited.”