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

10 of the Hayward Municipal Code makes it unlawful to drink beer, wine, or any other intoxicating beverage on a public street, sidewalk, alley, highway, grounds, plaza, or publicly owned parking lot within 500 feet of the exterior boundary of property presently or, if vacant, last occupied by a manufacturing entity or by a non-residential facility ordinarily open to the public, a list the code specifically names as including schools, hospitals, public transit stations, restaurants, taverns, retail stores, repair facilities, laundromats, service stations, professional offices, real estate offices, and car washes, while exempting lawfully operating home occupations.

A second clause reaches private property: drinking on a portion of private property open to the public within 500 feet of a public street, sidewalk, alley, or highway, and used for customer or employee parking, is also unlawful unless the owner, agent, or lawful possessor expressly permits it. The ordinance carves out its own exception for permitted events: it does not apply to areas and times covered by a City-issued permit for temporary use of public streets, parks, or other public facilities where the permit specifically allows alcohol to be sold or consumed as part of the permitted function.

The section also states it does not make punishable any act already prohibited under California law, so it works alongside, not in place of, the state's separate open-container and public intoxication statutes. The ordinance dates to Ordinance No. , adopted November 10, 1987, and remains the operative citywide open-container rule.