Los Angeles, CA Food Trucks & Mobile Vendors: Food Truck Permits (2026)

73 defines a catering truck as a motorized vehicle (or an attached trailer) designed primarily to dispense "victuals", food or beverages ready for immediate consumption. Dispensing is barred within 100 feet of any intersection, within 200 feet of named parks including MacArthur Park, Balboa Park, and parts of Griffith Park, within 200 feet of any freeway on- or off-ramp, and within 500 feet of any school property line. In a residential location a truck cannot park more than 30 minutes, and cannot return within two blocks of a spot it used within the prior four hours; moving the truck during that window does not reset the clock.

In commercial areas, total time parked at one location, or anywhere within a half-mile radius, cannot exceed one hour, after which the truck must relocate more than a half mile away and stay away for at least 60 minutes. Operators must provide a marked litter receptacle, clean up trash before leaving, and equip the truck with a backup alarm audible at 100 feet. Leasing a catering truck to someone known to lack a required City or County license or permit carries its own $500 first-offense / $1,000 repeat-offense civil penalty.

General infractions under the section are punishable by a $100 fine for a first violation, $200 for a second, and $250 for each subsequent violation within a year, enforced by LAPD and LADOT parking enforcement.