310 Area Code Coverage: West LA, the South Bay and Catalina Island

If a call from the 310 area code just showed up on your phone, you're hearing from one of the most recognizable area codes in the country — the dialing prefix for Beverly Hills, Santa Monica, and the rest of West Los Angeles. Few area codes carry as much cultural weight, and few have a numbering history as contentious as 310's.

This guide covers everything worth knowing about the 310 area code: where it's located, which cities and communities it covers, what time zone it runs on, the unusually public fight over its overlay code, the scam patterns to watch for, and how to get a local 310 number if you're opening a business or expanding into West LA.

The 310 area code covers West Los Angeles and the South Bay region of Los Angeles County, along with a small portion of Ventura County and Santa Catalina Island offshore. It's one of the most affluent and business-dense area codes in the country, home to entertainment studios, luxury retail, and a dense coastal tourism economy.

Major cities and communities in the 310 area code include:

• Beverly Hills: an iconic city known for luxury retail and entertainment industry offices
• Santa Monica and Malibu: coastal cities anchoring West LA's beach communities
• Culver City: a major studio and production hub
• Manhattan Beach, Redondo Beach, and Torrance: the core cities of the South Bay
• Inglewood: home to major sports and entertainment venues near LAX

Geographically, the 310 numbering plan area stretches along the coast from Malibu down through the South Bay, a corridor that includes some of the most valuable commercial real estate in Southern California.

The 310 area code went into service on November 2, 1991, when it was split from the original 213, which at the time covered a much larger stretch of Los Angeles County. On January 25, 1997, 310 was reduced again when the southeast portion of the county, along with a large part of Orange County, split off as area code 562 — the same repeated-split pattern that also shaped San Francisco's 415 area code over the decades.

That left 310 covering roughly its current West LA and South Bay footprint, but the region's phone demand kept climbing through the 1990s as cell phones and pagers proliferated.

California regulators approved a 424 overlay for the 310 region as early as May 1998, but the plan sparked an unusually public backlash. Los Angeles's politically influential Westside community organized a protest campaign in 1999, and the California State Assembly responded by passing the Consumer Area Code Relief Act of 1999, tabling the overlay entirely. According to Los Angeles Business Journal coverage of the fight, the fight even reached a temporary suspension of mandatory 10-digit dialing while regulators reconsidered the plan.

The reprieve lasted nearly seven years. On July 26, 2006, the 424 overlay finally went into effect — becoming California's first area code overlay — and mandatory 10-digit dialing became permanent across the 310/424 region. Existing 310 numbers were never changed; 424 was simply layered on top for new lines.

The entire 310 area code sits in the Pacific Time Zone, observing:

• Pacific Standard Time (PST): UTC−8, in the winter months
• Pacific Daylight Time (PDT): UTC−7, from early March through early November

That means if you're calling a 310 number from the East Coast, you're generally three hours ahead — worth keeping in mind before you dial early in the morning or late in the evening.

Area code 310 itself is completely legitimate — it's simply the dialing code for one of the country's most recognizable coastal regions. But like most active area codes, it's frequently spoofed by scammers who fake a local caller ID so residents are more likely to answer a call that looks like it's coming from their own neighborhood.

Common scams reported against 310 numbers include:

• Government impersonation: callers posing as the IRS, Social Security Administration, or a process server threatening legal action or claiming your identity was stolen
• One-ring (Wangiri) scams: a call rings once and disappears, hoping you'll call back a premium-rate number
• Fake entertainment industry and talent scams: bogus casting calls or agent offers targeting the region's entertainment workforce
• Neighbor spoofing: scammers deliberately match the first six digits of your own number to appear more trustworthy

If you receive a suspicious call from a 310 number, don't share personal or financial information, hang up on any recorded message demanding immediate payment, and report the call to the Federal Trade Commission. The area code isn't the problem — caller ID spoofing simply makes it easy for bad actors to borrow it.

If you want a 310 number for personal or business use, the fastest option today is a cloud business phone platform. With a provider like Softtop, getting a 310 number takes just a few steps:

1. 1Sign up for a free trial — no credit card required
2. 2Open your number inventory and search California → 310
3. 3Choose a local DID, toll-free number, or vanity number from Softtop's US inventory of 800+ area codes
4. 4Assign it to a team, an AI Receptionist, or an individual extension
5. 5Go live in minutes with unlimited US calling included

Because Softtop provisions numbers instantly and supports number porting with zero port-out fees, you can also move an existing 310 number onto the platform in five to ten business days if you're switching providers rather than starting fresh.

Beyond simple geography, a local 310 number gives a business real advantages when reaching customers across West LA and the South Bay — a market closely tied to the neighboring 562 area code region to the southeast:

• Higher answer rates: people are more likely to pick up a call that looks local
• Regional trust: a familiar area code signals you're accessible and invested in the community
• Marketing consistency: a local number pairs naturally with localized ads, listings, and campaigns
• No physical office required: cloud phone systems let you serve the region without leasing space there

On Softtop, every 310 number is backed by the same tools used across the platform: an AI Receptionist that answers every call in under a second, full call recording and transcription, CRM sync with HubSpot and Salesforce, and 99.999% uptime backed by an SLA.

The 310 area code is far more than a random string of digits — it's the dialing code for one of the country's most iconic regions, and its numbering history is unusually eventful, complete with a public protest campaign and a seven-year delay before California's first area code overlay finally arrived. It runs on Pacific Time, has served West LA and the South Bay since 1991, and now shares its footprint with 424 for every newly issued line.

Like any widely used area code, 310 is also a target for caller ID spoofing, so a little healthy skepticism toward unexpected calls goes a long way. And if your business wants to build a genuine local presence in West LA, getting a number no longer requires a physical office or a new phone line — a cloud platform can have you calling, texting, and answering customers as a local business within minutes.

Whether you're trying to identify an unfamiliar call or planning your next market expansion, understanding the 310 area code — its geography, history, and quirks — puts you one step ahead.