Temecula, CA Business Licensing & Operations: Adult Entertainment (2026)
Key Facts
- Allowed zone
- Special Use Overlay Zone No. 1 only
- Spacing rule
- 1,000+ feet from another adult business
- Permits required
- Adult business license plus a CUP
- Employee permit
- After 3+ shifts in 90 days
- Operating hours
- Closed 10 p.m. to 8 a.m.
- Age limit
- No one under 18 admitted
- Misdemeanor penalty
- Up to $1,000 fine and/or 6 months jail
Summary
Adult businesses in Temecula are confined to Special Use Overlay Zone No. 1 and must sit more than 1,000 feet from any other adult business, per Municipal Code Section 5.09.040. Operators need both an adult business license and a conditional use permit before opening, employees need their own permits, and the business must close between 10 p.m. and 8 a.m. with no one under 18 admitted.
No adult business shall be established, expanded, or conducted within the city of Temecula unless it is located in the special use overlay zone No. 1 and is more than one thousand feet from another adult business, whether inside or outside of the Temecula city limits. ... No adult business shall be open or operating during the hours from ten p.m. to eight a.m. ... No person under the age of eighteen years shall be permitted within the premises at any time. ... Any firm, corporation or person, whether as principal, agent, employee or otherwise, violating or causing the violation of any of the provisions of this chapter shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and any conviction thereof shall be punishable by a fine of not more than one thousand dollars or by imprisonment for not more than six months, or by both such fine and imprisonment.
Official source re-checked September 7, 2026: no newer edition of the code had been published (publisher’s edition: rev 4862229; v11 updated 2026-04-14).
Full Breakdown
040(A) bars any adult business, arcade, bookstore, cabaret, motel, or motion picture theater from being established, expanded or conducted anywhere in Temecula unless it sits within Special Use Overlay Zone No. 1 and more than 1,000 feet from another adult business, measured property line to property line without regard to intervening structures. 130. , no admittance of anyone under 18, no location inside a portable structure, permanent view-blocking barriers at every entrance, opaque covering on all exterior windows, exterior lighting of at least two footcandles and interior lighting of at least twenty footcandles, separate restrooms for each sex, and security cameras with footage retained for thirty days.
Massage, tattooing, acupuncture and escort services are barred from the premises. 120 for CUP noncompliance, an owner's disqualifying felony or misdemeanor sex-offense conviction, or unresolved code violations, with a hearing before the planning commission and appeal to the city council.
Violations & Fines
Section 5.09.160 makes any violation of the adult business chapter a misdemeanor, punishable by a fine of up to $1,000, up to six months in jail, or both, with each day of a continuing violation a separate offense. Section 5.09.170 additionally declares a noncompliant adult business a public nuisance subject to abatement or injunction. License revocation follows the hearing process in Section 5.09.120.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Sources & Official References
Other rules in Temecula
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How other cities in Riverside County handle adult entertainment.