Manhattan Confronts New Area Code

.c The Associated Press

By VERENA DOBNIK

NEW YORK (AP) - Technically, 212 is just Manhattan's area code.

But for some who live in New York City's most famous borough, those three numbers have become as crucial to their identity as Broadway, the Empire State Building and Times Square.

The digits silently - and snobbishly - suggest where they don't live: in the city's four other boroughs. The 212 cachet has even entered the online dating business, with some would-be Manhattan Lotharios declaring dates from nearby 718 area code to be geographically impaired.

However, starting today, new phone subscribers in Manhattan may lose some of their telephone chic. Many new hookups will be assigned a new 646 code or the already-used but little-known 917.

The beloved 212 has been pretty much used up.

``People do move out of the city,'' Bell Atlantic spokesman John Bonomo said in consolation. ``You can ask for a 212 number, and it might be available.''

The change means a Manhattanite may have to dial 646 to reach a neighbor with an equally fine view of Central Park.

Take Donald Trump, who's planning a $360 million edifice he bills as the world's tallest residential skyscraper. It would have 376 apartments near the United Nations, including 4,500-square-foot penthouses with 16-foot ceilings.

And, potentially, a 646 area code.

``Why would you want it?'' wonders Trump spokeswoman Norma Foerderer.

Those who cross the area code frontier will have to dial 1. All that extra tapping could wreck on a manicure. Maybe there will be a black market in 212s.

Other large cities have added area codes to meet demand: Los Angeles has eight, Chicago five and Boston four.

But 212 has been synonymous with Manhattan since the 1940s, when the 10-digit combination kicked in with the modern phone system. Brooklyn, the Bronx, Queens and Staten Island used to be 212, but began their 718 reincarnation 14 years ago.

New York introduced the 917 code in 1992 for cellular phones and pagers in all five boroughs; it's been extended to some Manhattan homes and businesses.

The state Public Service Commission ordered the new 646 code because of the telecommunications overload that brought in fax machines, pagers and computer modems. The move ensures enough new phone numbers in Manhattan for the next six years. Each area code holds up to 7.9 million phone numbers.

``Tell some of those people in Manhattan to get rid of their fax machines,'' suggested Alan Itzkowitz, manager of the Second Helping Kosher deli in the Bronx.

``This was 212 at one point, too,'' he said. The change ``wasn't traumatic. My life went on.''

AP-NY-07-01-99 0249EDT

Copyright 1999 The Associated Press