Pacifica, CA Public Conduct: Loitering Rules (2026)

Section 4-10.120, part of the article regulating parks, beaches, and recreation facilities, bars anyone from entering, remaining, staying, or loitering in a park, mini-park, or their adjacent parking areas, or at any recreation facility, between 10:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m., and bars loitering in beach-adjacent parking areas between 10:00 p.m. and 5:00 a.m. A second paragraph tightens this for the City's two ocean beaches: Linda Mar Beach and Rockaway Beach themselves are off-limits to loitering from 7:00 p.m. to 5:00 a.m. during standard time and from 10:30 p.m. to 5:00 a.m. during daylight saving time, both hours defined by cross-reference to the California Government Code.

This loitering rule sits alongside a longer list of prohibited conduct in the same article, including camping, unpermitted events, glass containers, and unauthorized fires (Section 4-10.118), all enforced by the Parks, Beaches and Recreation Department and its Park Rangers. A separate, narrower curfew covers the Pacifica Pier: Section 4-9.07 bars loitering on a City pier between 10:00 p.m. and 4:00 a.m. Violations of the article's loitering rule are governed by Section 4-10.123(a), which classifies them as infractions under the Code's general penalty section, while a short list of more serious park violations, such as unpermitted events or firearm discharge, can be charged as misdemeanors.