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

Section 9.08.020 of the Paramount Municipal Code is the City of Paramount's public drinking and open container rule. It is unlawful, except as exempt, for any person on any public street, sidewalk, parkway, alley, highway, parking lot open to the public, public park, public school, public playground or any publicly operated recreational ground facility or building to possess, sell, offer for sale, consume, drink, purchase or transport malt or spirituous liquor containing more than one-half of one-percent of alcohol by volume in a container that has been opened, has a broken seal or has had its contents partially removed.

The section has a narrow written exemption. Specific municipal locations are exempt when the City Manager deems in writing that the location meets administrative requirements for the occasional serving of alcoholic beverages. Those requirements include that the exemption is for City sponsored functions only for civic purposes, that it states and limits the precise time and hour the activity starts and ends, and that all activities are entirely confined to fully enclosed structures.

Subsection B excludes premises licensed under the Alcoholic Beverage Control Act and anyone keeping an alcoholic beverage in a vehicle in the manner authorized by the Vehicle Code of California. It does not prescribe any act positively permitted or prohibited by State law.

Parks have a flat rule. Section 9.32.170 says the possession and consumption of alcoholic beverages or narcotics and dangerous drugs by any person is unlawful in any park or recreational facility, and § 9.32.180 lets the City Council set a facility use policy by resolution for park rentals and City sponsored events.

Intoxication is regulated separately. Section 9.08.010 makes it unlawful for an intoxicated person willfully to appear, remain or be in or on any public highway, street, alley, way, park, playground or public place, and bars intoxicated persons from places open to public view or to which the public is admitted, as well as private premises to the annoyance of any other person. Section 9.04.420 also covers being found in an intoxicated or drunken condition upon any street, thoroughfare, alley, sidewalk or grounds.