Mobile, AL Business Licensing & Operations: Massage Establishments (2026)

Mobile's massage parlor licensing scheme lives in Chapter 8, Article III of the City Code, split into a general division (Secs. 8-41 through 8-50) and a licensing division (Secs. 8-61 through 8-63). Sec. 8-61 makes it unlawful to operate a massage parlor, defined as any establishment, building, room or place where massage is offered by a person not exempted under Sec. 8-41, without a business license under the city's privilege license schedule. The exemption carves out physicians, chiropractors, osteopaths, nurses and physical therapists licensed under state law, barbers and cosmetologists limited to the head, neck, scalp, feet and hands, accredited school coaches and trainers, and massage therapists who hold professional certification or a diploma from a recognized school requiring at least 250 classroom hours.

Before a license issues, Sec. 8-62 requires the applicant and every masseur, masseuse or attendant to be employed to present a licensed physician's written verification, dated within twenty days of the application, that the person is free of contagious, infectious or communicable disease. Every employee must carry that verification while on duty, and it must be completely renewed and retaken at least annually.

Sec. 8-42 separately holds the owner or manager personally responsible: no owner or manager may authorize or tolerate prostitution, sodomy, adultery, fornication or any lewd or obscene act on the premises, and a conviction of the manager or an employee for any of those offenses is itself grounds for revoking the establishment's license.

Sec. 8-63 sets the revocation procedure. The city may revoke for any violation of Article III by the licensee or an agent, attendant or employee, but only after written notice delivered by hand to the licensed premises, or mailed there postage prepaid, at least ten days before a hearing before the city council, where the licensee may present evidence. A revoked operator cannot obtain a new massage parlor license anywhere in the city or its police jurisdiction for twelve months following the revocation.