Cathedral City, CA Business Licensing & Operations: Massage Establishments (2026)

Chapter 5.33 of the Cathedral City Municipal Code controls massage in Cathedral City, Riverside County. Section 5.33.030 sets up separate permits. A massage therapy establishment permit is required to operate, maintain, run, or manage the business. A personal massage therapist permit is required for each person who performs massages at the establishment. An outcall massage therapy service, meaning massage at an off-premises location, requires a personal massage therapist permit with an off-premises endorsement. When extra therapists are needed for a one-day special event at a permitted establishment, the permittee files a special events application under Section 5.33.050, submitted at least seven calendar days before the event, and the decision of the city manager or designee is final.

The state certification exemption is the main way around the city permit. If the sole proprietor holds a valid certification issued by the MTO under Chapter 10.5 of Division 2 of the California Business and Professions Code, or the establishment employs or uses only people who hold that certification, the establishment permit is not required. If the state abandons the certification program, or revokes or lets lapse a permittee's certification, a complete city application is due within ten business days. Holding some other permit or license does not substitute unless state law says so.

Every permittee must also hold a city business license under Section 5.33.090, and the buildings must meet the Uniform Building and Fire Codes. City-issued permits expire one year from issuance, and renewal applications are due thirty calendar days before the expiration date under Section 5.33.190. Under Section 5.33.040, a stand-alone establishment is allowed in zones where barbershops or beauty parlors are permitted or conditionally permitted, but not within three hundred feet of a parcel holding a sexually oriented business. Section 5.33.290 bars operation between ten-thirty p.m. and seven-thirty a.m., and representatives of the police, community development, fire and health departments can inspect any time an establishment is occupied or open for business under Section 5.33.200.