Mountain View, CA Public Conduct: Loitering Rules (2026)

and sunrise unless accompanied by a parent, legal guardian, or other person with care and custody, with narrow carve-outs for minors actually going to or from business, amusement or worship. The ordinance does not stand alone: Sec. 4 makes it unlawful for a parent, guardian or custodian to allow a violation, and states that when a minor is caught violating Sec. 8, a legal presumption arises that the parent or guardian permitted, assisted or encouraged the violation. Sec. 5 separately bars any person from aiding, abetting or encouraging a minor to break curfew.

Sec. 6 extends liability to proprietors, keepers or clerks of cafes, taverns, restaurants, bowling alleys or public dance halls, who may not let an unaccompanied minor loiter on their premises during curfew hours. Sec. 7 requires hotel, motel, boarding house and apartment house operators to report to the Mountain View Police Department any minor found on the premises overnight without a parent or guardian, including the minor's name, age, address and the names of parents or guardians so far as they can be determined. Sec.

8 governs the arrest procedure: an arrested minor must be taken forthwith to the county juvenile home, with the arresting officer required to advise staff of the reason for arrest and the circumstances. The ordinance dates to Ord. No. 462, adopted April 15, 1958, and has not been repealed.