Cathedral City, CA Curfew Laws: Juvenile Curfew (2026)

Chapter 11.56 of the Cathedral City Municipal Code combines a nightly curfew with a daytime truancy rule. Curfew hours run from ten p.m. any evening of the week until six a.m. the following day. Section 11.56.020 makes it unlawful for a minor to be in any public place or on the premises of any establishment within Cathedral City during those hours. A public place is any place the public or a substantial group of the public has access to, including streets, highways and the common areas of schools, hospitals, apartment houses, office buildings, transport facilities and shops. An establishment is a privately-owned place of business operated for profit to which the public is invited.

Section 11.56.021 lists nine defenses: the minor was accompanied by a parent, guardian or responsible adult (a person at least eighteen years of age authorized by a parent or guardian); on an errand for a parent, guardian or responsible adult without detour or stop; in a motor vehicle involved in interstate travel; working, or going to or from work, without detour or stop; involved in an emergency; on the sidewalk abutting the minor's residence; attending, or going to or from without detour or stop, an official school, religious or other adult-supervised recreational activity sponsored by the city, a civic organization or a similar entity; exercising First Amendment rights; or emancipated.

Before any enforcement action, § 11.56.022 requires a police officer to ask the apparent offender's age and reason for being in the public place or establishment, and bars a citation or arrest unless the officer reasonably believes that no defense applies. Section 11.56.030 adds a truancy rule: a minor subject to compulsory education cannot be in a public place or on the premises of an establishment between seven thirty a.m. and two ten p.m. on days when school is in session.