Glendale, CA Noise Ordinances: Amplified Music & Outdoor Sound (2026)

Article II of Chapter 8.36, Glendale's Amplified Sound ordinance, regulates loudspeakers and sound trucks used on streets, sidewalks, parks and other public property. Before anyone other than law enforcement or a government agency can install or operate a loudspeaker or sound-amplifying equipment for talks, addresses or transmitting music to the public, § 8.36.240 requires filing a registration statement with the city clerk. Section 8.36.250 spells out what that statement must include: the owner's and user's names and addresses, the equipment's maximum sound-producing power and audible range, the sound truck's license and motor number if one is used, a description of the equipment, and whether the use is commercial or noncommercial; the city clerk can deny registration if the police chief finds it would endanger traffic or pedestrian safety.

Once registered, § 8.36.280 sets the operating rules: the equipment may broadcast only music or human speech, and may run only between 7:00 a.m. and 10:00 p.m., with commercial use barred outright on Sundays and legal holidays (noncommercial use on those days is still limited to the 7:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. window). The sound is decibel-capped: it cannot exceed fifteen dbA above the actual or presumed ambient noise level measured at any property line, and, regardless of that decibel allowance, it cannot be operated within two hundred feet of a church, school, hospital, library or a city or county building. A separate fee applies for commercial registrations under § 8.36.270, while noncommercial use is free. Anyone denied a registration can appeal under Chapter 2.88 pursuant to § 8.36.260, and a small set of activities, emergency alerts, permitted public events on school or park grounds, and utility emergency work, are exempted under § 8.36.290.