Restaurants, a brewery, tattoo parlor, club sports teams, real estate and design firms — dozens of local businesses embrace the 805 area code in their names and products, a number that means something to Central Coast residents.

Santa Barbara County and its neighbors are two years away from running out of 805 area code phone number prefixes, and the California Public Utilities Commission is holding public meetings this month to talk about adding a new code for people in the area. 

Everyone with a current 805 number would keep it, but new customers in the area would be assigned the new code starting in June 2018, the CPUC proposes.

According to the state, 805 prefixes are expected to run out by December 2018.

San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara and Ventura counties make up most of the 805, along with small parts of Monterey and Kern counties.

Cities represented by 805 include: Arroyo Grande, Atascadero, Grover Beach, Morro Bay, Pismo Beach and San Luis Obispo in SLO County; Buellton, Carpinteria, Goleta, Guadalupe, Lompoc, Santa Barbara, Santa Maria and Solvang in Santa Barbara County; and Camarillo, Fillmore, Moorpark, Ojai, Oxnard, Port Hueneme, Santa Paula, Simi Valley, Thousand Oaks and Ventura in Ventura County, according to the CPUC.

The 805 was created in 1957, when it was split off the 213 area code, according to the CPUC.

It was further defined in 1999, when the 661 area code (Kern County area) was split off.

The CPUC is holding three public meetings later this month to talk about plans for the new area code, including one at 7 p.m. Aug. 22 at the Santa Barbara Eastside Branch Library, at 1102 E. Montecito St.

Other meetings will be held at 2 p.m. Aug. 22 at the Oxnard City Council Chambers, 300 W. 3rd St., and at 11 a.m. Aug. 23 in the San Luis Obispo City Council Chambers, 990 Palm St.

Written comments can be submitted before the meeting to the CPUC via email at public.advisor@cpuc.ca.gov or by mail to 320 W. 4th Street, Suite 500, Los Angeles, CA 90013.

The CPUC is also considering a new area code overlay for the 916, in the greater Sacramento area.

— Noozhawk managing editor Giana Magnoli can be reached at gmagnoli@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.