Downey, CA Public Conduct: Public Alcohol Use (2026)
Key Facts
- Governing section
- Downey Municipal Code § 4103
- Banned locations
- Schools, public buildings, government grounds
- Open-container lots
- Any business-licensed parking area
- Highway drinking
- Banned, § 4104
- In-vehicle drinking
- Banned for any occupant, § 4105
- Exception
- Rio Hondo Golf Course, § 4103.1
Summary
Downey bans possessing or drinking alcohol on any school, public building or government grounds, and bans drinking or carrying an open container in any parking lot tied to a licensed business, under Municipal Code §4103. Separate sections make it unlawful to drink on a public highway (§4104) or inside a vehicle parked on one (§4105), with a narrow carve-out for the Rio Hondo Golf Course.
No person while in or on any public school ground, public school building, public building, or grounds belonging to the State, County, or other governmental entity or agency, shall have in his or her possession or consume any alcoholic beverage. No person while in or on any unenclosed area designed or used, or intended to be used, for the parking of motor vehicles and which parking area is used in conjunction with or as any adjunct to any business, trade, or occupation for which a business license has been issued or is required to be issued pursuant to the provisions of Chapter 2 of Article VI of this Code, shall consume any alcoholic beverage nor have upon his or her person, nor in his or her personal possession, any container containing an alcoholic beverage, which container has been opened.
Full Breakdown
Section 4103 of the Downey Municipal Code defines 'alcoholic beverages' as any liquid or solid containing one-half of one percent or more alcohol by volume that is fit for drinking, whether alone or mixed with other substances. It bars two categories of conduct: first, possessing or consuming alcohol while on any public school ground or building, any public building, or grounds belonging to the State, County or another government entity; second, drinking, or carrying an opened container of, alcohol in any unenclosed parking area used in conjunction with a licensed business.
A companion section, §4104, separately makes it unlawful to go upon or remain upon a public highway while consuming an alcoholic beverage, and §4105 bars entering or remaining in a vehicle on a public highway while any occupant, not just the driver, is drinking. 1 carves out one exception: the Rio Hondo Golf Course, where alcohol may be possessed and consumed at a place designed for that purpose when dispensed under City authority by a licensee or an authorized caterer. Because §4103's parking-lot provision keys off any business-license parking area, the open-container ban reaches strip-mall and restaurant lots across the City, not only City-owned property, and it has stood substantially unchanged since it was amended by Ordinance 211 in 1962.
Violations & Fines
Drinking or possessing alcohol on school, public building or government grounds, or in a business's parking lot with an open container, violates §4103. Drinking while on a public highway violates §4104, and remaining in a vehicle on a public highway while any occupant drinks violates §4105. None of these sections apply to alcohol served under City authority at the Rio Hondo Golf Course, the only carve-out set out in §4103.1.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Sources & Official References
Other rules in Downey
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