Santa Ana, CA Garage & Yard Sales: Frequency, Duration & Permits (2026)

Section 41-193(2) of the Santa Ana Municipal Code states plainly that garage sale activity shall be limited to the hours of 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. That nine-hour window applies on whichever of the four sanctioned quarterly weekends (or a weather-makeup weekend the city manager designates) the sale falls on; there's no early-bird or after-dark carve-out even for the first or last day. The same section's subsection (3) adds a location restriction that functions as a companion time-and-place rule: garage sale activity may not be conducted in the public sidewalks, parkways, streets or alleys.

Together the two provisions mean a sale has to stay on private property, the yard, driveway or porch, and only during the stated hours; tables set up on the sidewalk before 8 a.m. to catch early shoppers violate both subsections at once. The hours limit sits in the same section as the calendar restriction (first weekend of March, June, September, December), the merchandise rule (household goods only) and the sign-posting rule, so a single sale that runs past 5:00 p.m. or spills onto the sidewalk is a separate, independently citable violation even if the sale's date and signage otherwise comply.

Enforcement of Chapter 41, which includes section 41-193, is assigned under section 1-18.1 to the planning and building agency's executive director, planning manager, building safety manager, and community preservation and code enforcement inspectors, who may issue a notice to appear for violations observed in their presence.