10 Weird LA Laws Still On the Books — The Bold Italic — San Francisco

By Gregory Han

Last week Monterey Park joined fellow LA county cities Santa Monica, Arcadia, and the city of Los Angeles itself by banning the artificial glow of e-cigarettes from being “puffed” on public or city property. Lawmakers are also requiring liquid-vaporizing devices sales to abide by the same tobacco retail license requirements as their rolled paper equivalent. The E-cigarettes law may rankle some Libertarian feathers, but there are other far more questionable laws still on the city’s judicial books worthy of questioning:

1.

The McConaughey Ordinance: in Santa Monica playing drums or any percussion instrument is not permitted on the beach … whether you’re wearing a shirt or not.

2.

Admission fees for house parties: Put into the books in 1982 is a law which makes clear that “charging admission to parties in residential zones prohibited. It is unlawful to charge admission to any party conducted in a residential zone.”

3.

Licking a toad: Whether of consenting age or not (toad or licker), “it is illegal for a person to lick the Colorado River Toad, aka the Sonoran Desert toad, aka Bufo alvarius.”

4.

Doing It Doggystyle: be sure to discuss this with your pets: it’s a crime for dogs to mate within 500 yards of a church in Los Angeles, an act punishable by a fine of $500 and/or six months in prison.

5.

Wearing Zoot Suits: “Now, therefore, be it resolved, that the City Council by Resolution finds that the wearing of Zoot Suits constitutes a public nuisance and does hereby instructs the City Attorney to prepare an ordinance declaring a nuisance and prohibit the wearing of Zoot Suits with reet pleats within the city limits of Los Angeles.”

6.

Dogs and public elevators: For whatever reason, the city of Glendale has deemed it illegal to take your dog onto an elevator according to the city’s restriction stipulating, “No person owning or having charge, care, custody or control of any dog shall cause or allow it to go or be taken into any elevator in any office building, retail store or public building. This section shall not apply to dogs being used by the blind.”

7.

Getting pickled Downtown: Novelist James Frey’ cites it is “illegal to manufacture pickles in the industrial zone of downtown Los Angeles.”

8.

2-for-1 Bath Time: The drought might tempt you to practice water saving measures, but apparently you cannot bathe two babies in the same tub at the same time in Los Angeles, according to Loony Laws: That You Never Knew You Were Breaking by Robert Pelton

9.

Reporting a roach motel: complaining through the postal service that a hotel has a cockroach problem, whether true or not, is illegal in Los Angeles.

10.

Moth hunting: Apparently a vestige of a popular Victorian era practice, the city of Los Angeles still forbids the hunting of moths under a street light as noted in 100 Crazy Laws: A collection of the most crazy and stunning laws in the USA by Michael Wenkart

Why is The Bold Italic covering LA? More here.

Photo: Harald Groven