Montebello, CA Business Licensing & Operations: Adult Entertainment (2026)

Montebello Municipal Code Chapter 17.60 confines adult businesses to the M-1 and M-2 industrial zones and requires an adult use planning permit before any business regulated under Chapter 5.76 may open, per Section 17.60.130. Section 17.60.140 sets the buffer: no adult business may locate within 500 feet of any residential zone or residentially used property, mobilehome park, church, funeral home, cemetery, school, nursery, day care center, park, playground, or other recreational facility where minors congregate, and no two adult businesses may sit within 500 feet of each other.

Distances run in a straight line from the nearest point of the building housing the adult business to the nearest property line of the protected use, ignoring intervening structures. Where two existing adult businesses end up closer than 500 feet, the one with the longer continuous operating history is treated as the conforming use. The same section bars exterior advertising depicting specified sexual activities, requires windows and openings be screened from outside view, and bans sound audible beyond the premises. Businesses with viewing booths under 150 square feet must staff a manager's station with a direct line of sight into every booth area.

Security requirements scale with occupant load: 2 licensed private patrol officers for up to 100 patrons, 4 for 100 to 200, and 4 plus 2 more for each additional 100 beyond that, under Section 17.60.140(G). The Montebello Police Department, chief of police, and director of planning review site and security plans, and the planning department processes the adult use planning permit application.