Can You Smoke Publicly in Laguna Beach? Rules, Cannabis, and Fines

You cannot smoke in public anywhere in Laguna Beach. The city’s smoking ordinance bans lighting up, vaping, or using any combustion or vaporizing device on every beach, sidewalk, street, park, trail, parking lot, and outdoor dining area in town, along with all indoor public spaces and workplaces.¹ The only two places you can legally smoke are inside a private residence or inside a vehicle.²

Where the Ban Applies

The ordinance defines “public place” broadly, and the list is long. It covers streets, alleys, rights-of-way, sidewalks, plazas, beaches, beach access ways, parks, picnic areas, playgrounds, sports fields, walking paths, hiking trails, bike paths, parking lots, parking structures, bus shelters, and hazardous fire areas. Indoor spaces are covered too: restaurants, bars, theaters, hospitals, public restrooms, elevators, and public meeting rooms.³

Any location being used for a public event, such as a farmers market, parade, craft fair, or festival, is also off-limits. Workplaces across the city are smoke-free. In apartment buildings and condos, the common areas, meaning shared hallways, laundry rooms, pools, and play areas, fall under the ban as well.⁴ California law separately prohibits smoking within 20 feet of a main entrance, exit, or operable window of a public building.⁵

Beaches, Parks, and Trails

Smoking is prohibited on every city beach, every beach access way, every city park, and every trail in Laguna Beach. There are no designated smoking areas in any of these locations.⁶

What Counts as Smoking

The ordinance applies to anything that releases gases, particles, or vapors through combustion, electrical ignition, or vaporization. Traditional cigarettes, cigars, pipes, and hookah are all covered. So are vape pens, e-cigarettes, and other electronic smoking devices. Marijuana and any other plant product intended for inhalation are included by name.³ If you’re heating, burning, or vaporizing something and inhaling it, the ordinance treats it as smoking.

Cannabis Is Not an Exception

California legalized recreational cannabis for adults 21 and older, but that legalization does not reach public consumption. State law prohibits smoking or ingesting cannabis in any public place and separately prohibits smoking cannabis anywhere tobacco smoking is already banned.⁷ Because Laguna Beach bans tobacco smoking in essentially every public space, cannabis is prohibited in all those same places. The private-residence and vehicle exemptions apply the same way, though state law independently makes it illegal to smoke or vape cannabis while driving.

Hotels and Rentals

If you’re visiting, don’t assume a hotel room counts as a private residence. Owners and managers of hotels, motels, and bed-and-breakfast establishments can set their own smoking policies for areas not open to the public, including guest rooms and pools, as long as those policies follow other applicable laws.⁴ In practice, most Laguna Beach hotels prohibit smoking entirely. Check the property’s policy before you light anything.

Fines

A violation is an infraction, not a criminal charge. Fines increase with repeat offenses in a single 12-month period:

First violation: up to $100
Second violation within one year: up to $200
Third or subsequent violation within one year: up to $500

These amounts are set by the ordinance and match what the city publishes on its beach information page.¹⁶ The city’s Code Enforcement Division handles compliance.⁸

1
City of Laguna Beach. City of Laguna Beach Code of Ordinances – Chapter 7.40 Smoking Regulated or Prohibited
2
City of Laguna Beach. Smoke-Free Public Places
3
City of Laguna Beach. City of Laguna Beach Code of Ordinances – Chapter 7.40 Smoking Regulated or Prohibited – Section: 7.40.020 Definitions
4
City of Laguna Beach. City of Laguna Beach Code of Ordinances – Chapter 7.40 Smoking Regulated or Prohibited – Section: 7.40.030
5
Justia Law. California Government Code Chapter 32 – Smoking in Public Buildings
6
City of Laguna Beach. Visiting Our Beaches
7
California Department of Industrial Relations. California Health and Safety Code 11362.3
8
City of Laguna Beach. Code Enforcement