Aliso Viejo, CA Public Conduct: Public Alcohol Use (2026)

Section 8.20.060 of the Aliso Viejo Municipal Code, adopted by the City Council for the City of Aliso Viejo in Orange County, California, bans public drinking. Subsection (A) makes it unlawful, except as otherwise provided by state law or local ordinance, to drink any spirituous, malt, vinous, or otherwise alcoholic beverage containing more than one-half of one percent of alcohol by volume upon any public streets, alleys, sidewalks, parkways, playground, parking lots open to the public, public parks, public school grounds, and public recreation areas within the city.

The exception is a person in or on a place for which the city has issued a conditional use permit or special event permit permitting alcohol consumption. Special events are governed by Chapter 11.05. Subsection (B) puts a duty on businesses: the owner, manager or person in charge of a place open or accessible to the general public that is not licensed to permit alcohol consumption may not permit a person to partake of alcoholic beverages on the premises. The text of § 8.20.060 prohibits drinking, and § 8.20.060 says nothing about merely carrying a sealed container on a sidewalk.

Parks have a stricter rule in § 11.10.170: no person may possess or consume any alcoholic beverage within the limits of any designated park or recreational area, except in a portion of a recreational area designated by resolution of the city council. Orange County, Laguna Niguel, Mission Viejo and other neighboring jurisdictions run their own rules and are not covered here.