Current & Past Strange Laws
in Los Angeles County

Illegal to drive more than 2,000 sheep down Hollywood Boulevard at one time. Los Angeles Almanac Image.

Note: some ordinances noted here may no longer be in force.

Arcadia

• Peacocks have the right of way to cross any street, including driveways.

Alhambra

• It is illegal to leave your car on the street overnight without the proper permit.

Baldwin Park

• It is illegal to ride a bicycle in a swimming pool.

Downey

• It is illegal to wash your car in the street (passed 1995).

El Monte

• It is illegal to use a sandbox as an ashtry.
• It is illegal to operate pinball machines or mock horse-racing games.

Glendale

• It is illegal to drive a car in reverse.
• It is illegal to jump into a passing car.

Hermosa Beach

• It is illegal to pour salt on a highway.
• It is illegal to plant a garden in the middle of the street.

Hollywood (when an independent city)

• It is illegal to drive more than two thousand sheep down Hollywood Boulevard at one time.

Long Beach

• It is illegal to have any other item in a garage except for a car.
• It is illegal to curse on a mini-golf course.

Vintage car in a garage. Pixabay.com.

City of Los Angeles

• It is illegal for a man to beat his wife with a strap wider than 2 inches without her consent.
• It is illegal bathe two babies in the same tub at the same time.
• It is illegal hunt moths under a streetlight.
• It is illegal to cry on the witness stand.
• It is illegal to lick toads.
• It is illegal for dogs to mate within 500 yards of a church. Breaking this law is punishable by a fine of $500 and/or six months in prison.
• It is illegal to stage a bullfight in your backyard
• It is illegal to shoot at any kind of game from a moving vehicle, except for a whale.
• It is illegal to stage a bullfight in your backyard
• It is illegal to stage a bullfight in your backyard
• It is illegal to blow snuff in another’s face
• It is illegal to bath in someone else’s bathwater
• It is illegal to fly a balloon more than five feet off the ground
• It is illegal to complain through the mail that a hotel has cockroaches, even if true.
• It is illegal to wash your neighbor’s car without permission
• It is illegal to sit on an outdoor restaurant table
• It is illegal to wear a Zoot Suit.

Pasadena

• It is illegal for a secretary to be alone in a room with her boss.

Secretary with her boss, Los Angeles, 1934. Photo from the L.A. Times Photo Archive at UCLA Library.

Santa Monica

• It is illegal to play percussion instruments on the beach.

Walnut

• It is illegal for males to dress as a female without a sheriff's permit.
• It is illegal for children to wear a halloween mask withot a sheriff's permit.
• It is illegal to fly kites more than ten feet above the ground.