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

Chapter 5.10 requires two permits. Under § 5.10.030 nobody can operate an adult-oriented business without an adult-oriented business regulatory permit from the city, and nobody can give a live performance depicting specified anatomical areas or specified sexual activities without an adult-oriented business performer permit. The city manager, or an officer the manager designates, administers the chapter.

For the business permit, § 5.10.040 requires an application and a nonrefundable filing fee set by council resolution that cannot exceed the cost of processing. Section 5.10.050 requires ownership details, proof that each individual applicant is at least eighteen, a sketch of the interior drawn to within plus or minus six inches, and a diagram of parking and entries. Within two business days the city decides whether the application is complete, and within fifteen days of a completed application it grants or denies (§ 5.10.060). The permit is granted on findings that the business meets the location criteria of Title 17. If the city neither grants nor denies within fifteen days, the applicant can begin operating subject to the operating standards. Denial is required for a nonconforming building or location, a false statement, an applicant under eighteen or an unpaid fee (§ 5.10.070). Performer permits are decided within two business days and expire one year after issuance (§ 5.10.100). A denial can be appealed to the city council and then to superior court (§ 5.10.110).

Location comes from zoning, and Title 17 prints two zoning codes. The 1983 Zoning Ordinance, § 17.105.153, applies where allowed by Chapter 17.045 (General Commercial (C-2) Zone). The 1998 Zoning Code, § 17.38.030, applies where allowed in the CG zoning district. Each requires five hundred feet from property in a residential zoning district, a child day care facility, a school attended by minor children, a park or playground, a religious place of worship and a public building or facility likely to be used by minors, and one thousand feet from any other adult business, measured in a straight line between closest property lines, with an exemption for shopping centers. The 1983 text prints the subsection letter as P, tied to March 1, 2005, while the 1998 text prints it as D, tied to the date of adoption of the ordinance.

Section 5.10.120 also sets operating hours of eight a.m. to two a.m. for businesses not also regulated by the state alcohol agency.

Pismo Beach uses two adopted zoning codes. The city's Zoning and Land Use page states that properties inside the Coastal Zone are regulated by the 1983 Zoning Code, and properties outside the Coastal Zone are regulated by the 1998 Zoning Code.