Hercules, CA Business Licensing & Operations: Massage Establishments (2026)
Key Facts
- Permitting authority
- Chief of Police
- Residential-zone buffer
- 300 feet
- Buffer from other parlors/schools/parks
- 1,000 feet
- Hours of operation
- 7:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m.
- Penalty
- Up to $500 fine or 6 months jail
Summary
Hercules requires a Chief of Police permit for every massage parlor and masseur under Municipal Code Section 4-9.03, bars parlors within 300 feet of a residential zone or 1,000 feet of another parlor or a school, park or library, and closes them between 10:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m.
(m) No massage parlor shall be kept open for business and no massage establishment licensee shall administer any massages or other treatment between the hours of 10:00 p.m. of one day and 7:00 a.m. of the following day. (n) No massage parlor shall be established at any location which is: (1) Within three hundred (300) feet of the boundary of a residential zoning district. (2) Within a radius of one thousand (1000) feet of any other massage parlor. (3) Within a radius of one thousand (1000) feet of any public park, public school, public library, religious institution or any other public building.
Official source re-checked September 8, 2026: no newer edition of the code had been published (publisher’s edition: current through Ordinance 555, passed March 25, 2025).
Full Breakdown
02. 03 requires both parlor operators and individual masseurs to apply to the Chief of Police with fingerprints, photographs, five years of address and employment history, proof of graduation from a recognized school requiring at least 200 hours of instruction, and a doctor's certificate within 30 days showing freedom from serious communicable disease. 06 bars issuance to anyone convicted in the prior five years of specified Penal Code sex offenses or controlled-substance felonies. m. Sanitation rules require separate men's and women's restrooms, hot and cold water, daily cleaning of wet-heat rooms, and single-use linens laundered after each patron. 21 sets the penalty at a misdemeanor fine up to $500 or six months' imprisonment, with each day of continuing violation a separate offense.
Violations & Fines
Operating a massage parlor or practicing as a masseur without a Chief of Police permit, siting a parlor inside the 300-foot residential or 1,000-foot proximity buffers, staying open between 10:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m., or employing an unpermitted masseur or a worker under 18 violates Sections 4-9.03, 4-9.12 and 4-9.20, punishable under Section 4-9.21 by a misdemeanor fine up to $500 or up to six months in jail, with each day a separate offense.
Frequently Asked Questions
How close can a massage parlor be to a school in Hercules?
What hours can a Hercules massage parlor stay open?
Do individual massage therapists need their own permit in Hercules?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Hercules
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