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

020 defines "adult business" as any business operated at a fixed location, by whatever name, that specializes in sales, services or showings appealing to prurient interests, sexual appetites, fantasies and curiosities, including sexually oriented books, magazines and videos, adult-restricted movies, and live performances of actual, simulated or suggested sexual activity. 050, lists "Adult Business" as requiring approval of a use permit (UP) in the C (Commercial) district, and marks it not allowed ("–") in the C-G (Commercial-Gateway) district that covers the Four Corners and Verano Triangle gateway areas.

040, so the planning commission, not staff, decides whether to approve it and may attach conditions. 040(I)(2)(a) lists adult businesses among the examples of nonresidential uses "not incidental to or compatible with residential activities, and are therefore prohibited as home occupations" anywhere in the city. 050(F)(2)(a). Read together, these provisions mean an adult business has exactly one lawful path into the City of Sonoma: a discretionary use permit in the C district. There is no ministerial option and no residential-adjacent workaround through a home occupation or live/work permit. This is a City of Sonoma ordinance, not a Sonoma County rule, so it applies only inside the incorporated city limits.