Earlier this month at the Art & Wine Faire, every drink on Laurel Street started at a Glass & Token booth. You showed your ID there, bought a 2026 Faire glass and a handful of tokens, and then traded one token for each pour at any of five pouring locations along the route. Local wines from 3P Wine Company, Comartin Cellars, Domenico Winery and Russian Ridge Winery were poured at the San Carlos Avenue and Laurel Street intersection, next to the Schettino Stage. According to the city's Faire FAQ, the money from tokens and glassware goes to the Parks & Recreation Foundation of San Carlos.
That system works, and it supports our parks. But the restaurants along Laurel Street don't sell any of those drinks, even though their doors open onto the crowd. The City Council has now started down a path that could change who sells drinks on the street during big events. Our two closest neighbors that have tried it found that the rule matters much less than the event it's tied to.
What the council backed on October 13
The San Mateo Daily Journal reported that the council held a study session at its Tuesday meeting and that every member supported setting up an entertainment zone. That's a designated public area where people can drink alcohol sold by eligible businesses during set hours or events. The meeting was the October 13 regular session.
Assistant City Manager Nil Blackburn told the Daily Journal the idea comes out of the economic development goals in the Downtown Specific Plan. "We want to increase foot traffic around specific areas to draw people to our downtown businesses so they can increase their revenue," she said. She said the zone would most likely run along Laurel Street as the main downtown spine, and that other zones could be set up elsewhere in the city.
The council wants business owners to shape it. "I would like to move forward with the entertainment zone, and then we can talk to businesses about how they would like to see it activated and have some buy-in," Councilmember Sara McDowell said. Councilmember John Dugan put it this way: "It's not on us to figure it all out, let's see what our business owners want to do and we can support them with this new tool." Councilmember Neil Layton said he doesn't want to add work for city staff who are already stretched. The Daily Journal reported that an ordinance could come back to the council in early 2027.
So nothing has been adopted yet. Boundaries, hours, cups and the list of events would all be set in that future ordinance.
The framework the state set
Cities can do this because of SB 969, which the governor signed on September 28, 2024. The Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control says the authority took effect statewide on January 1, 2025. Here are the main pieces:
- Who can sell: licensed businesses with premises inside the zone, each filing an annual participation notice with ABC.
- Where drinks come from: you have to buy at an in-zone licensed business and walk directly into the zone. Outside alcohol isn't allowed.
- What drinks go in: no glass or metal containers. The city has to name approved cups and set a way to identify drinkers who are 21 or older.
- What the city has to do: pass an ordinance listing boundaries, beverages, days, hours and cups, consult law enforcement first, and review public health and safety every two years.
- When: never during hours when alcohol sales are prohibited, and only when at least one in-zone licensee is allowed to sell.
The state sets the outer limits. Each city decides how often to turn its zone on, and for what.
Broadway and Castro, a few weeks apart
San Carlos staff checked with Redwood City and Mountain View, which both adopted ordinances this spring. On paper, the two zones look a lot alike. The table below draws on reporting from the Daily Journal and the Redwood City Pulse on Redwood City, and from the Mountain View Voice and the Los Altos Town Crier on Mountain View.
| Redwood City | Mountain View | |
|---|---|---|
| Approved | May 11, 2026 | Second reading April 28, 2026; in effect May 28 |
| Area | 2000 block of Broadway, Jefferson Avenue to Main Street, plus a stretch along Redwood Creek | Castro Street from West Evelyn Avenue to Church Street, plus City Hall's plaza and parts of side streets |
| Allowed hours | 10 a.m. to 10 p.m., seven days, only when the city activates it | 8 a.m. to 11 p.m. daily, only for activated events |
| Pilot terms | Up to three activations of three hours or less at the start; beer and wine only at launch | 18-month pilot, city-sponsored events only; council decision on making it permanent expected November 2027 |
Their first activations went very differently.
Redwood City launched on Thursday, June 11, from 3 to 5 p.m., during a heat wave. The Redwood City Pulse described dozens of attendees, jumbo Connect 4 and cornhole, a bubble machine, live musicians, and a watercolor table run by the Center for Creativity. Families who came liked it. Even so, the Pulse reported that most restaurants' outdoor seating was noticeably empty. A host at Mazra told the paper that weekday guests usually don't arrive until after 4 p.m., and that the heat was "blazing." The city scheduled two more weekend activations: June 20, and July 18 as a lead-in to a World Cup watch party at Courthouse Square.
Mountain View first switched its zone on for the World Cup final on July 19. The city put up a big screen at West Dana and Castro streets and opened two blocks of Castro between Villa and California streets. Participating bars served drinks in blue, city-provided "Summer of Soccer" cups after ID checks and wristbands. The Mountain View Voice reported that staff estimated thousands of people over the two-day event, that downtown businesses saw heavy foot traffic, and that police made no arrests related to the zone. It wasn't perfect. Staff at St. Stephen's Green had to explain the rules over and over, and reporters spotted the occasional beer can even though outside alcohol wasn't allowed. Bartender Dominick Barry still told the Voice, "It helps all the small businesses around."
The event made the difference
Redwood City put boundary signs, barricades, security and police along its zone, and Mountain View checked IDs and handed out wristbands. Both had the setup in place. Mountain View also had a World Cup final on a big screen, on a weekend.
That's the lesson San Carlos staff brought back. Blackburn told the Daily Journal that success "depends largely and almost exclusively on the events and activities that it's tied to," that activations should be tied to "significant cultural, artistic or entertainment features or events," and that smaller events hadn't done as well. A zone doesn't bring people downtown by itself. It gives the businesses already there a way to sell to a crowd that something else drew.
Laurel Street already draws the crowds
This is where San Carlos is in a different spot than either neighbor was. Laurel Street already has big, established events that sell alcohol on the street.
The Art & Wine Faire ran October 10 and 11 this year on Laurel Street and San Carlos Avenue. Its pours, a 6-ounce wine or a 12-ounce beer, went into Faire glasses, with brewers including Devil's Canyon, Blue Oak, Alpha Acid and Hapas, plus a spritz booth at San Carlos Avenue and Walnut Street. Night of Holiday Lights is on Friday, December 4, from 5 to 8:30 p.m., covering Laurel Street from San Carlos Avenue to Cherry Street with the main stage on Cherry. The city's listing includes beer and wine sales, along with snow, lights and a holiday show.
At both events, the event itself sells the drinks. At the Faire, every beer, wine, spritz and glass sale benefits the Parks & Recreation Foundation. An entertainment zone would work differently. Laurel Street's licensed restaurants and bars would serve people on the street, in approved cups, from their own counters. How a future ordinance would fit alongside the foundation-run pours, and which events it would cover, are among the details the council left for business owners and staff to work out before anything comes back in 2027.
Some events have no alcohol at all. Diwali Downtown fills Laurel Street on Saturday, November 14, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., with performances by Kathakaars School of Dance and San Carlos Sitaras, plus music, crafts and food. The city's listing doesn't mention alcohol. State law lets each city choose which activations to switch on, so not every downtown gathering has to become a zone night.
Dates on the downtown calendar
- Saturday, November 14, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.: Diwali Downtown on Laurel Street.
- Friday, December 4, 5 to 8:30 p.m.: Night of Holiday Lights, Laurel Street from San Carlos Avenue to Cherry Street, with beer and wine sales under the current setup.
- Early 2027: an entertainment-zone ordinance could return to the City Council, per the Daily Journal.
- November 2027: Mountain View's council is expected to decide whether to make its Castro Street pilot permanent, which will give San Carlos another data point.
This post is a general summary of the state law and local proposals, not legal advice. If you own a business and are thinking about taking part in a zone, check the rules with ABC and the city.
I've written about Laurel Street's parklets and its newest storefronts here, and I'll keep watching this one as the ordinance takes shape. If you own a downtown storefront, or a home a few blocks off Laurel, and want to talk through what a zone night could mean on your block, call Bob at Bob Bredel - Main Site.
