Costa Mesa, CA Public Conduct: Public Alcohol Use (2026)

Section 11-3 sits in Title 11, Chapter I of the Costa Mesa Municipal Code and traces to the 1960 Code (section 4203), last amended by Ordinance No. 89-19 in July 1989. The prohibition is broader than a typical open-container law: it reaches not just streets, alleys, sidewalks and parkways but also public restrooms, parking lots, vacant lots and parked motor vehicles, so drinking inside a car parked in a public lot is still covered. Costa Mesa parks are included too, with one narrow carve-out: the city council or its designee can expressly approve and post a specific area of a park for drinking, such as during a permitted event or a reserved gathering space.

Absent that posted designation, alcohol consumption anywhere the section reaches is unlawful regardless of the drinker's age or whether the container is open or closed. The Costa Mesa Police Department enforces the section on routine patrol and in response to complaints, commonly downtown near the bar corridors and around large commercial parking areas. Because Chapter I carries no penalty clause of its own, enforcement defaults to the citywide violations scheme in section 1-33: officers can cite the offense as an infraction, punishable by a fine of up to $100 for a first offense, $200 for a second within a year and $500 for each additional offense, or prosecute it as a misdemeanor carrying up to a $1,000 fine, up to six months in jail, or both. The section does not distinguish between beer, wine and spirits; all alcoholic liquors or beverages are treated the same.