Questions regarding alcohol and California

[peter]

Hey!

4 swedish guys here who have a passion for drinking. We are pulling a roadtrip through Cali in April and need some questions answered.

1) Is it illegal to have "open containers" (aka open beer bottles) in the car backeet, which other people are drinking, even though the driver is sober and doesnt touch the beer?

2) Is it true that it is illegal to drink alcohol outside, but it is legal if you have a paper bag around the bottle? (or does this only apply to strong alcohol? Beer is allowed wherever right)

3) What other california-laws regarding alcohol should we pay attention to?

We just dont want to get caught by the psycho-nazi-cop's I've seen in shows and movies

Thanks

 

[JuniperPark]

Hey!

4 swedish guys here who have a passion for drinking. We are pulling a roadtrip through Cali in April and need some questions answered.

1) Is it illegal to have "open containers" (aka open beer bottles) in the car backeet, which other people are drinking, even though the driver is sober and doesnt touch the beer?

2) Is it true that it is illegal to drink alcohol outside, but it is legal if you have a paper bag around the bottle? (or does this only apply to strong alcohol? Beer is allowed wherever right)

3) What other california-laws regarding alcohol should we pay attention to?

We just dont want to get caught by the psycho-nazi-cop's I've seen in shows and movies

Thanks

About 15 - 20 years ago a couple of kids of important people were killed by drunk drivers. Laws did used to be too lax, but now you will spend more time in jail for drinking related offenses than if you murdered or raped someone; it is absurd. This is not a joke or exageration.

On the up-side, I rarely see police arrest people for being intoxicated in public unless they are causing trouble. Just don't drive or have open containers, and you'll stay out of most problems.

1) HELL NO... serious violation. I think they can seize your vehicle and jail you for this.

2) NO. Most beaches in San Diego you can drink on the beach during daylight hours (or until 8pm) (no glass containers), but I don't think that's true in LA or most areas north. DO NOT drink in the parking lots or boardwalks, many people get tickets there because they assumed it was part of the beach. Beer is classified the same as other alcohol.
Pacific Beach (San Diego) are where the young bikini clad females hang out. webcam preview: http://DalePorter.com

3) Must have a current photo passport to get in any bar/club. They are dead serious about this and DO arrest people using fake IDs. I assume you are all 21 or over. Legal blood alcohol limit is 0.8, lowest in the USA. BTW, most rental car insurance will not cover accidents when a driver is over 0.8.

www.ca.gov probably has some more info.

When will you be in San Diego, and where will you be staying? Most young Europeans stay here:
http://www.bananabungalowsandiego.com/index.html

It's a little sketchy but cheap, on the beach, and walking distance to good bars/clubs.

 

[peter]

Thanks, excellent reply. I knew they were strict, but JESUS. Almost sounds like a description of a communist country.

We are already dead serious about drinking and driving, no such nonsense is tolerated in our group. Drinking and Driving are two awesome things, but they don't mix.

I'm sorry to hear we can't drink wherever we want to. This trip is supposed to be a "the old gang going out for the last crazy trip before we all part ways" kind of trip.

The thing is, we are all 20 (except for me Im younger), but we knew that the whole 21-thing is strict before we booked the trip. We can party without clubs if we have to.

The route we are planning on is: Palm Springs, San Diego, LA, Santa Barbara and if we have time Las Vegas (I know, 21 for gambling but we aren't there to gamble)

We were actually just today discussing if we should go to San Diego or not (we don't know that much about it), but from what you wrote, they seem to have slightly more "beer-friendly" laws. Any tips for us what we can do there (I'm sure you already guessed that we aren't there for bird watching [no offence to the bird watchers, my grandpa does it])?

Regarding drinking on beaches, are u positive that it is prohibited in and outside LA, like Santa Barbara?

Thanks again / P

 

[JuniperPark]

I thought the legal age for gambling was 18, but I could be wrong on that. Personally I think you SHOULD make a point to go to Vegas, there is nothing like it anywhere. Ride the rides on top of the Stratosphere and walk the strip. Plus it's CHEAP, rooms at the Riviera are like $35 if you book ahead.

I left LA in 1995 so my data is old, but Santa Monica / Venice has gang problems so police are on top of everything. Do NOT be down there at night, but then that's true of much of LA. See Hollywood, get the free tickets to see tapings of talk shows / game shows / sitcoms, that's cheap and interesting to see how it's done.

I'm not familiar with Santa Barbara but it's a small town, far out of your way, I'm not sure it's worth the trip for you with limited time. Las Vegas would be a MUCH better stop.

I would guess that someone can help you get beer/liquor at youth hostels. Buy plastic juice/water containers, and swap out the liquid. Buy big cups of sodas and keep / re-use the cups for other liquids, and nobody will likely hassle you unless you get crazy. I'm not 100% certain about the alcohol laws on other beaches, but fairly certain because they try to outlaw it here every year and say we're the few areas left to allow alcohol on the beach.

 

[peter]

Good tips there man! The old buy'n'swap

yeah I know SB is far out of our way, but we have some people to meet there for a few days and it seems ok. You have convinced us to go to Vegas anyhow

I was sure the gambling age was 21, but I dont even live there so I might as well be wrong. Any third opinions available?

 

[Steen]

Personally I think you SHOULD make a point to go to Vegas, there is nothing like it anywhere.

Monte Carlo, Monaco?

 

[FusionX]

I left LA in 1995 so my data is old, but Santa Monica / Venice has gang problems so police are on top of everything. Do NOT be down there at night, but then that's true of much of LA.

Its not that bad nowadays. I would not suggest hanging out in Venice at night, but SantaMonica is money anytime of the day (or night). Never heard of any problems in SantaMonica at nights i.e. before 01:00 AM. I frequent the clubs there once a week.

 

[peter]

sounds great. yeah we will watch out where we spend our nights. We are used to "rough" neighborhoods from the time we lived in brussels, but they can not compare to "south central" or anything like that.

Steen: I doubt that Monte Carlo has the same crazy city, where you can do pretty much anything

 

[Jack Gordon]

Even if you can't gamble, Vegas is a great town. LOTS to do for a group of raging hormones on a bender.

 

[peter]

OK one issue has come up:

both Avis and Hertz require an age of 25 to rent cars, and we will only be 21 duing the trip (one of us will be).

I have relatives in Cali, but there are some liability laws in the states right? Like if we get in trouble, the relative in question can also get in trouble or something?

Anyone know what we can do?

has anyone tried there? Their homepage isn't exactly serious, but they accept 20 year old drivers

http://www.airportautorental.com

 

[JuniperPark]

If you are suggesting that relatives rent the car and you crash it, then yes, they are on the hook. The big rental companies don't allow drivers under 25. You might be able to rent from the smaller independents, "RentAWreck" type places. These are older, refurbished crashed cars usually, but they're also cheaper to rent. I knew guys who just opened the newspaper about bought the best car they could buy for $500 and just ditched the car at the front of the airport when done with it. No need to worry about parking tickets and such.

 

[Stinos]

oh well just come back to belgium ... almost no rules about drinking

 

[Dr. Domaining]

You are able to rent a car as long as you are over 21 but there is an additional fee applied. Go to Orbitz.com or one of the larger travel sites for more information.

Hope you have a good time while you are in California. It's a great place.

OK one issue has come up:

both Avis and Hertz require an age of 25 to rent cars, and we will only be 21 duing the trip (one of us will be).

I have relatives in Cali, but there are some liability laws in the states right? Like if we get in trouble, the relative in question can also get in trouble or something?

Anyone know what we can do?

has anyone tried there? Their homepage isn't exactly serious, but they accept 20 year old drivers

http://www.airportautorental.com

 

[peter]

Sorry typo'd, he will only be 20.

This is really starting to tick me off, we NEED to have a car. Is it just me or are american laws regarding this really strange? You allow people to drive when they are 16, but you have to be like 5-9 years older to rent a car to drive??

Does anyone know of ANY place in LA or around LA that rents out cars to people who are 18-20?

Would make our vacation!

 

[Dr. Domaining]

I think you might have another problem. The drinking age in California is 21.

Sorry typo'd, he will only be 20.

This is really starting to tick me off, we NEED to have a car. Is it just me or are american laws regarding this really strange? You allow people to drive when they are 16, but you have to be like 5-9 years older to rent a car to drive??

Does anyone know of ANY place in LA or around LA that rents out cars to people who are 18-20?

Would make our vacation!

 

[peter]

I think you might have another problem. The drinking age in California is 21.

That will not be a problem

The car is the trouble

 

[JuniperPark]

Correction to my post -- they have raised the gambling age in Vegas to 21. Sorry about that.

The major car rental places simply will not allow drivers under 21, or even 25 in some cases because their accident rate is astronomical and ability to pay minimal. They probably also get sued by the people renters hit with the car, and can't recover from the young drivers.

Seriously -- think about BUYING an old beatup car (and a roll of duct tape). Otherwise you might be able to do it with a small non-franchise rental place that rents really old cars.

 

[peter]

Correction to my post -- they have raised the gambling age in Vegas to 21. Sorry about that.

The major car rental places simply will not allow drivers under 21, or even 25 in some cases because their accident rate is astronomical and ability to pay minimal. They probably also get sued by the people renters hit with the car, and can't recover from the young drivers.

Seriously -- think about BUYING an old beatup car (and a roll of duct tape). Otherwise you might be able to do it with a small non-franchise rental place that rents really old cars.

Juniper: correct me if I'm wrong, but if we buy a "piece-of-crap" car we will not be insured (since we dont have any insurance in the states whatsoever), which can cause big financial trouble for us if we get in an accident right?

The small-rental-places sound good. Does anybody know of a reliable place in LA which allows 18-20 year olds to rent? I have tried searching the web, but can't find anything.

All my DNF goes to the one who can find me a rental service that looks good enought for us to use

Thanks / Peter

 

[JuniperPark]

I'm assuming here that you're not going to bother with insurance. About 20% of the people in the road are driving without insurance (1/2 of those because they are illegal immigants from Mexico), and the rest mostly purchase 'uninsured motorist protection'. We're paying for the illegal visitors, so I don't think we need to worry about the legal ones, like you. If you DO find a rental agency and your insurance from home is not valid here, you will have to buy extra insurance at $10/day or more.

 

[peter]

I realize that I don't have to buy insurance, but we want to have it. There's no way we are driving uninsured, I'd rather hitch-hike through Neverland

Anyhow, yeah if we find an independant small rental-place we will get insurance. However, if we buy a "p-o-s" car, there is no way for us to insure it for just 10 days right?