Huntington Park, CA Business Licensing & Operations: Secondhand Dealers (2026)

Article 6 of Title 3, Chapter 1 of the Huntington Park Municipal Code governs the buying and selling of junk and used goods from a yard. Section 3-1.601 defines a junk yard dealer as a person buying or selling, at wholesale or retail, and storing on premises in the City old, used, worn-out, or discarded rags, sacks, bottles, glass, cans, paper, metals, rubber, or articles known as junk, whether or not of any value. The code carries no separate secondhand dealer article. Junk yard dealers and auto wreckers are the dealers who answer to the City Council.

The applicant files a written application with the Council giving the street and number of the business, a residence address, telephone numbers, and a signature (§ 3-1.603). The Council investigates the character and business of the applicant and the location (§ 3-1.604) and requires a $300 permit fee before it receives or acts on the application (§ 3-1.605). Under § 3-1.606 the Council can issue the permit only after finding the business will not be a public nuisance or injurious to the health, safety, morals, or public welfare of the community, and the permit runs for the remaining portion of the calendar year.

Renewal under § 3-1.607 needs no new application, only an annual renewal at $100 if there is no good cause for revocation or refusal, and the fee is credited against the license tax. The $300 fee covers one yard. A new location needs a new application and another $300 filing fee, a move of location costs $10, and adding adjoining or contiguous property costs $10 (§ 3-1.609). Transfers carry a $10 fee between existing permit holders and a $150 application fee otherwise (§ 3-1.608).

Sellers without a yard are taxed separately. Section 3-1.306 sets the license tax for a junk and rubbish collector at $75 annually or $10 daily for each vehicle used. Section 3-1.1710 separately requires a pawnbroker to obtain a special Council permit to deal in secondhand jewelry, precious stones, precious metals including old gold, watches, or similar secondhand merchandise.