Alhambra, CA Home Business: Signage Rules (2026)

Signage for home businesses in Alhambra is effectively banned by the home occupation standards in zoning Section 23.22.160. The section requires that the residential appearance of the unit within which the home occupation is conducted be maintained and that no exterior indication of a home occupation is permitted. Because a sign is an exterior indication of the business, a home occupation may not display a sign, nameplate, lighted display or other outward advertising visible from the street or neighboring property. The same section reinforces this by prohibiting the display or sale of products or merchandise from the site except by mail, telephone, internet or other electronic communication (with a limited exception for registered cottage food operations), and by barring any exterior storage of materials, supplies or equipment. The intent is to keep home enterprises incidental to and visually indistinguishable from surrounding residential uses, so a passerby should not be able to tell that a business operates at the address. This contrasts with Alhambra's general sign regulations in Chapter 23.21, which govern permitted commercial and other signs in non-residential contexts; those allowances do not extend to home occupations, which remain subject to the no-exterior-indication rule.