West Covina, CA Public Conduct: Public Alcohol Use (2026)

West Covina's open-container and public-drinking rules sit in Sec. 5 percent alcohol by volume or more, fit for drinking either alone or mixed with something else. The ban has three separate triggers. First, no one may consume alcohol while on a public highway, and the Code's own definition of "highway" is wide, reaching alleys, bridges, culverts, curbs, streets and sidewalks throughout the city, not just roadways cars travel on (Sec. 15-5(a),(b)). Second, drinking is barred on any building or grounds belonging to the state, county, city or other government agency, except where Sec.

16-21 of the Code carves out a specific permitted use (Sec. 15-5(c)). Third, the ban extends to unenclosed parking lots that serve a licensed business, trade or occupation, so a bar or restaurant's own parking area is off-limits for open drinking even though the establishment inside may serve alcohol (Sec. 15-5(d)). That parking-lot rule does not apply to premises covered by Sec. 15-6(c) unless the property has been posted under Sec. 15-6, which separately makes it unlawful to merely possess an opened container on a retail off-sale liquor store's posted premises and adjacent parking lot or sidewalk.

Sec. 15-5 is not among the sections Sec. 1 designates as infractions, so a violation defaults to a misdemeanor under the Code's general penalty, Sec. 1-37(a): a fine of up to $1,000, up to six months in county jail, or both, at the court's discretion.