Lakewood, CA Business Licensing & Operations: Pawnbrokers (2026)

Section 4278 defines a pawnbroker broadly to cover anyone who pawnbrokers, lends money against property held as collateral, or buys personal property with an agreement to resell it to the original seller at a pre-agreed price; a 'pawnshop' is any room, store or building where that business is conducted.

Subsection A sets the operating-hours limit: a pawnbroker, and any agent or employee, cannot accept a pledge, loan money on personal property, purchase or receive goods, wares or merchandise, or otherwise conduct the pawnbroker business between 7:00 p.m. of one day and 7:00 a.m. the next, a twelve-hour nightly shutdown that runs seven days a week.

Subsection B is a recordkeeping mandate. Every pawnbroker must keep a record, on a form the Sheriff prescribes and in the manner the Sheriff prescribes, of all purchases and sales, so the Sheriff's Department can track pledges and consignments. Because Lakewood is a contract city that relies on the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department rather than a municipal police force, it is the Sheriff, not a city police chief, who designs the reporting form and receives the completed records in the manner and at the time required. The section does not set its own fine schedule, so a violation defaults to the general municipal penalty in Section 1200: a misdemeanor punishable by up to six months in county jail, a fine, or both, with each day of noncompliance charged as a separate offense.