Area code history highlights Tampa identity during 813 Day celebrations

TAMPA, Fla. - On August 13, Tampa businesses are serving up $8.13 specials, residents are wearing 813 shirts and local landmarks are leaning into the city’s best-known three numbers.

But 813 Day holds more significance than a gimmicky deal.

Rodney Kite-Powell, Saunders Foundation Curator of History at the Tampa Bay History Center, says the area code has become a symbol of belonging in a city that continues to change.

"It roots people in a place," Kite-Powell said.

Tampa area code origins

What we know:

Florida originally shared the 305 area code. As the state grew, 813 became Florida’s second area code in 1953 and initially covered a much larger section of the state. More area codes followed as Florida’s population and demand for phone numbers exploded.

Today, 813 is much more closely associated with Tampa and Hillsborough County.

For longtime locals, Kite-Powell said, the number can even work as a kind of cultural credential.

"We do like to show that we're from here," he said. "And that 813 area code is actually becoming something that can be a symbol of that."

He compared an old 813 number to having the concert T-shirt that proves you saw a band before it became famous.

Changing role of area codes

The backstory:

The meaning attached to 813 has changed along with the technology that created it.

Area codes once played a much more visible role in everyday life. People memorized phone numbers, households maintained multiple lines and growing populations required new area codes.

Now, smartphones remember the numbers for us, and people can live, work and socialize across geographic boundaries in ways that were impossible when 813 was created.

Yet the number itself has taken on a second life as a Tampa identifier.

Kite-Powell said Tampa’s distinctive culture stretches far beyond an area code. He pointed to the city’s cigar history, Cuban influences, Ybor City, West Tampa, local architecture and food. Even the chickens roaming Seventh Avenue are woven in. 

Why you should care:

That sense of place can be harder to maintain in a world where people spend more time in global online communities, move more frequently and encounter many of the same national businesses from one city to another.

813 Day offers a counterpoint: a celebration built around the idea that Tampa is not interchangeable with somewhere else.

Kite-Powell said experiencing a community firsthand can reinforce that connection.

"When you're celebrating something like that and you're in the place and you're experiencing the culture, experiencing the architecture, experiencing the food, it really can kind of ground you in that place," he said.

He also said that identity does not belong only to people born here. Whether someone’s family has lived in Tampa for generations or they arrived last winter, participating in the culture can help them become part of the place they now call home.

Thursday deals and celebrations

What's next:

There are plenty of ways to celebrate — and save money — Thursday.

Among the deals listed by Visit Tampa Bay:

• 3 Corners Pizza: $8.13 18-inch New York-style cheese or pepperoni pizzas and an $8.13 watermelon refresher cocktail.
• Big Ray’s Fish Camp: $8.13 grouper nuggets.
• Blind Tiger Coffee Roasters: Café con leche and Cuban toast for $8.13.
• Wright’s Gourmet House: 83-cent coffee, $8.13 banana bread and an $8.13 Cuban sandwich.

The Unlock Tampa Bay Visitors Center is hosting its second annual 813 Day Bash from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. The first 50 people at the visitors center table can receive a free 813 Day T-shirt.

At Sparkman Wharf, festivities run from 5 p.m. until 8:13 p.m. with a DJ, giveaways, Tampa sports mascots and food and drink specials.

The deals may get people through the door. But the larger idea behind the day is remembering what makes the place outside that door distinctive.