Chamber Leaders Seek New ZIP Code

The local chamber of commerce has revived efforts to persuade Postal Service officials to restore Arleta’s old ZIP Code.

“The interest is still here in the community,” said Louise Oliver, president of the Arleta Chamber of Commerce. “There’s a strong interest in getting our ZIP Code restored in order to maintain our identity.”

But the old 91332 code could be long in coming, especially since attempts in 1990 and 1994 failed.

In May, the chamber contacted the postal service about the ZIP Code.

Oliver said the postal service’s Pacific Area Office in San Francisco responded in June, saying that ZIP Code changes are typically not considered more than once every 10 years. The postal service letter also suggested the chamber take its case to Los Angeles postal service officials.

Oliver said she will meet with postal service representatives later this month.

Arleta lost its ZIP Code in 1968 when the postal service merged the neighborhood with Pacoima’s 91331. Pacoima borders Arleta to the northeast. In 1990, Arleta residents circulated a petition and gathered more than 5,400 signatures, but failed to sway postal authorities.

Oliver said the chamber’s interest in Arleta’s ZIP Code increased in July, when the postal service awarded a new code to Oak Park--a Ventura County border town that had a Los Angeles County ZIP Code.

Oak Park received a new Ventura County code--91377--primarily because residents paid higher sales taxes with the old L.A. ZIP Code when they ordered mail-order merchandise.