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

NBMC § 5.96.015 requires any adult-oriented business, defined broadly in § 5.96.010 to include adult bookstores, cabarets, theaters, motels, model studios, and motion picture arcades, to obtain both an adult-oriented business permit and a City business license before operating. Applications go to the Revenue Division and must include a nonrefundable fee, a floor plan showing compliance with § 5.96.025, and a signed statement that no officer, partner, or investor has had an adult-oriented business permit revoked in the prior two years. The City Manager must issue or deny a complete application within 45 days; if no decision issues in that window, the applicant may begin operating until formally denied.

Section 5.96.025(A) requires the business to sit in an approved zoning district under Title 20's location requirements, and a footnote to that subsection makes the distance limitations in § 20.48.020(C) one-directional: they stop applying only if a protected use, such as a school, residence, or religious institution, later tries to move next to an already-pending adult business, not the reverse. Other § 5.96.025 findings bar operating out of a mobile structure or pushcart, require a security system recording all parking areas, keep all interior areas open to public view except restrooms, forbid massage, tattooing, piercing, or escort services on site, and flatly bar operating between 2:00 a.m. and 7:00 a.m.

Permits run one year and renew annually through the Revenue Manager if nothing has changed. The City Manager can revoke a permit for a finding/requirement violation, a sex-offense conviction tied to the premises, or false application information, with the permittee given 15 days to appeal to the City Clerk before a hearing, and, once revoked, the operator cannot reapply for two years under § 5.96.045(E).