Type 21 Liquor License in Los Angeles County: Quota, Zoning, and Transfers

Can you still get a new Type 21 liquor license in Los Angeles, or do you have to buy one? Both routes exist. State law caps off-sale general licenses by county population. ABC sets each year how many Los Angeles County may add. A zoning approval for the address is a separate step in the City of Los Angeles and in unincorporated areas. Liquor License Agents helps store owners, buyers, and sellers in Los Angeles County settle the route before money is committed.

What A Type 21 Liquor License In Los Angeles Lets A Store Sell

ABC lists Type 21 as "Off-Sale General", issued to retail stores. Our page on the California Type 21 license covers the statewide rules.

• Products. Beer, wine, and distilled spirits, for consumption off the premises where sold.
• Customers. BPC 23394 allows distilled spirits sales to consumers only, not for resale, except to holders of daily on-sale general licenses.
• Hours. BPC 25631 makes it a misdemeanor for any on-sale or off-sale licensee to sell between 2 a.m. and 6 a.m.
• Minors. Allowed on the premises.

Local approvals can narrow this. In unincorporated areas, County Code 22.140.030 bars distilled spirits at an automobile service station selling alcohol under a permit applied for on or after October 19, 2017. The City of Los Angeles application asks whether a store will sell beer or wine coolers in single cans, wine in containers under 750 ml, or fortified wine. A store that will sell only beer and wine needs a Type 20 license instead.

How The County Quota And Local Zoning Decide Who Gets One

BPC 23817 allows one off-sale general license for each 2,500 inhabitants of the county. Within that cap, ABC's 2026 authorization gave Los Angeles County 25 new off-sale general licenses and 25 intercounty off-sale transfers. A new original application carried a $19,840 fee. Applications were accepted from September 14 through September 25, 2026, so that window has closed. ABC says the only other way to obtain a general license is to purchase an existing one of the same type within the same county.

• City of Los Angeles. Off-site sales need a Conditional Use Beverage approval under LAMC 12.24 W.1. The Zoning Administrator decides after a public hearing. City Planning says the normal process takes at least six months. The base filing fee is $19,418 before surcharges, under the ordinance effective February 23, 2026.
• South Los Angeles. A specific plan covers the South Los Angeles, Southeast Los Angeles, and West Adams-Baldwin Hills-Leimert community plan areas. Its ordinance requires conditional use approval for any new off-site seller and weighs the sellers within a 1,000-foot radius.
• Unincorporated areas. County Code 22.140.030 applies. Within a 500-foot radius of another off-site seller, a new permit limits alcohol to five percent of shelf space unless the Commission or Hearing Officer modifies it.
• Undue concentration. BPC 23958.4 leaves the public convenience or necessity finding for this license to the local governing body or its designated officer or body. In the City of Los Angeles, that is the City Council.

What Liquor License Agents Does For Los Angeles County Stores

Our work starts with the address.

• We review the store plan, site, and floor plan against the City CUB, the South Los Angeles plan, or the county permit, alongside our conditional use permit services.
• We advise whether to wait for the next priority filing period or buy an existing license inside the county.
• We help with valuation, negotiation, and escrow when a Type 21 liquor license for sale is part of a store purchase. BPC 24074 requires an escrow for the full purchase price, opened before the transfer application is filed.
• We prepare the ABC application, premises diagrams, and ownership disclosures. ABC serves the county from its LA/Metro, Van Nuys, Monrovia, and Lakewood offices.
• We follow the ABC investigation and help you answer questions, protests, or proposed conditions.

Type 21 Liquor License In Los Angeles County FAQs

1. Is the Los Angeles Type 21 quota counted by neighborhood or for the whole county?

For the whole county. BPC 23817 ties the number of off-sale general licenses to the inhabitants of the county where the premises are situated. The census tract comparison is a separate test, undue concentration under BPC 23958.4.

2. Has Los Angeles County needed a drawing for off-sale general licenses?

Not in the results ABC had posted before the 2026 round. That undated list shows Los Angeles County original off-sale general with 19 applicants, under license types that did not require a drawing.

3. Can a Type 21 license from another county be moved into Los Angeles County?

Only through the yearly intercounty priority allocation. BPC 24070 allows no more than 25 off-sale general transfers into a county in a 12-month period. The 2026 priority fee for an intercounty transfer was $7,515. For five years afterward, the license cannot be sold for more than the original fee paid.

4. How soon can a newly issued priority license be sold to someone else?

BPC 24070 bars transfer of a new priority or intercounty-transferred license to another person for two years from the date of issuance. The exceptions are Section 24071 and a finding by ABC that a transfer is necessary to prevent undue hardship. BPC 24079 also holds the price to the original fee for those two years.

5. Does a City of Los Angeles liquor store need a CUB and an ABC license?

Yes. City Planning states that the ABC license is required and is not processed or issued by City Planning. The City completes its part of the ABC Zoning Affidavit, form ABC-255. Condition clearance must be finished before operations start.

6. What does ABC charge in 2026 to transfer an existing off-sale general license?

Under ABC's 2026 fee schedule, a person-to-person transfer that includes a general license costs $1,565. A premises-to-premises transfer costs $975. The Type 21 annual fee on that schedule is $1,009. ABC has announced a 3.31 percent increase in all application and annual fees effective January 1, 2027.

Before you sign a lease or a purchase agreement for a liquor store in Los Angeles County, call (800) 799-9081 to schedule an appointment. Bring the address, and we will go through the license route.