Backstory: In area codes, 212 is the only-est number
The ostentatious prefix for 'the city of bosses' is a pricey must-have – and not just in New York.
from the March 28, 2007 edition
Page 2 of 4
And the desire to be associated with this imagined nexus has spawned a niche market in cellphone real estate. AccessDirect, a provider of VoIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol) systems, charges 10 percent more for its 212 numbers, promising a "virtual office in New York." Ads by people like Pugliese who've figured out how to land the numbers, meanwhile, appear daily in classified sites across the Internet.
The area code is a rare gem, indeed. Seventy-three percent of all 212 numbers are in use, compared with 55 percent for 310, the area code for Beverly Hills, another prestigious prefix. And the end is in sight: The 212 reservoir is forecast to reach exhaustion by 2009, according to a report by the North American Numbering Plan Administration.
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If your area code is 212, says Frantz Fils, an event and party promoter, "people – whether they realize it or not – just assume that you're better off." A resident of Brooklyn who tried – and failed – to find an affordable 212 number, he explains: "The boss is always in Manhattan. It's the city of bosses."
And identifying yourself with bossdom, Mr. Fils reasons, brings a litany of benefits. Merely existing (or seeming to) in New York City means you're paying one of the highest rents in the world. This signifies that you're earning good money, which, in turn, implies that you're good at what you do. It also means that people want to be around you, if only to mooch off your good fortune. For a promoter, like Fils, this is important. If you hand out an event flyer with a 718 contact, he says, no one will come. But if it's 212, people will make a point to attend.
Fils knows that the real hipsters – the very artists and writers responsible for New York's high market values – most often hail from 718, the outer boroughs. But as a businessman dealing in Brand New York, he knows that it's the myth of Manhattan that sells – and that means 212. "I don't believe in it," he says, but "I buy into it every day."
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