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

Section 4500 defines 'public place' broadly: any public way or location open to the public whether publicly or privately owned, including streets, sidewalks, alleys, parks, and public buildings, plus common areas of schools, hospitals, apartment houses, office buildings, transit facilities, shops, and any business open to the public, and even the unenclosed front yard, driveway, or steps of a private residence or business where no permanent barrier restricts access. Within any of those places, no one may drink malt, spirituous, or vinous liquor containing more than one-half of one percent alcohol by volume.

Section 4505, added by Ordinance 2005-2, separately bans possessing any bottle, can, or other receptacle containing an alcoholic beverage that has been opened, had its seal broken, or had contents partially removed, in those same public locations, which is the City's open-container rule and applies even if no one is actively drinking from it. 1), drinking on public school grounds or athletic fields (§ 4502), and allowing a passenger to drink inside a vehicle on a public street (§ 4503). Section 4506 exempts alcohol possessed and consumed under a written permit from the Director of Recreation and Community Services, or served under a valid on-sale Alcoholic Beverage Control license at the Civic Center Facility or the Weingart Center, so a permitted city event or a licensed venue is not swept into the ban.

Because Lakewood contracts with the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department for police service, deputies patrolling under that contract are the ones who cite and arrest for public drinking and open-container violations, not a separate city police force.