Fullerton, CA Public Conduct: Public Alcohol Use (2026)

010, it is unlawful for any person to consume an alcoholic beverage in or upon any public place, or in or upon any place open to the public, whether or not that person is in an automobile or other vehicle. That sweeps in city streets, sidewalks, parking lots, plazas and parks, and it also reaches a person drinking inside a parked car on public property, since the section expressly rejects any vehicle exception. The ordinance carves out two situations only: drinking at a premises licensed by the state Alcoholic Beverage Control Act (Cal.

Business and Professions Code Division 9, commencing at § 23000) for on-site sale or consumption, such as a bar or restaurant with an ABC license, and drinking at a special event held in or upon a public place for which the Department of Alcohol Beverage Control has issued a temporary license or permit, such as a city-permitted beer garden at a downtown festival. 010(B) borrows the definition of ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGE straight from the State Alcoholic Beverage Control Act rather than writing its own, so beer, wine and spirits are all covered the same way state law covers them.

The chapter was adopted by Ordinance 2899 in 1996 and has not been amended since, so the two exceptions remain the only lawful ways to drink outside a licensed indoor premises anywhere in the city.