Two exceptions: Pasadena issues a separate Valet Sponsor Permit to the business or host alongside the operator’s permit, and Glendale takes a single application signed by the valet company and the establishment. In those two, you are in the paperwork too.
The one question that decides everything
Before any city, any code section or any fee, there is a single question that settles most of this: will a guest’s car be driven on a public street?
If your event is entirely on private property — a driveway, a private lot, a gated motor court, a venue with its own parking — and no car is handled on or over a public right-of-way, then in most of the cities we work in there is often no city valet permit involved at all. We tell hosts that plainly, because the alternative is billing someone for paperwork their event never needed.
If cars will touch the street — and on most residential blocks in Encino, Brentwood, Hollywood or the Palisades they will — then the city’s valet rules apply, and they apply to the company driving the cars.
The second question is quieter and catches more people out: which city is your address actually in? A Beverly Hills mailing address is not the same thing as being inside the City of Beverly Hills. Marina del Rey has no city hall at all. We check the jurisdiction of the address before we quote a street plan, because the wrong answer is not a paperwork problem — it is an unpermitted operation on somebody’s street.
City by city: who permits what
| Jurisdiction | Who holds the permit | Authority | Worth knowing |
|---|---|---|---|
| City of Los Angeles | Operator + each attendant | Board of Police Commissioners | LAMC 103.203. Extra one-day permit inside a Residential Sensitive Zone. |
| West Hollywood | Operator | City of West Hollywood | WHMC Ch. 5.120. Short-term license up to 7 calendar days for a one-off event. |
| Beverly Hills | Operator | City of Beverly Hills | Two tracks: a short-term valet permit for events, a commercial one for ongoing locations. |
| Santa Monica | Operator | Traffic Engineering | Annual or one-day. All vehicle parking must be on private property. |
| Pasadena | Operator and host | Dept. of Transportation, Parking | You file too — the Valet Sponsor Permit, alongside the operator’s. |
| Burbank | Operator | Community Development — Transportation | BMC Title 6, Ch. 1, Art. 29. Filed 30 days ahead. |
| Glendale | Operator and host | Public Works — Parking Section | One joint application, signed by both. 48 hours minimum. |
| Malibu | Host, for the event itself | Planning Department | Residential events of 100+ people need a special event permit. |
| Marina del Rey | Depends whose land | County Beaches & Harbors | No city hall, no city valet permit. County property means a Right of Entry. |
| Orange County | Operator, city by city | Each incorporated city | There is no county-wide valet permit. Anyone who says otherwise is guessing. |
City of Los Angeles
The City of Los Angeles regulates valet under Municipal Code Sec. 103.203, and it is stricter than most people assume. A written Valet Parking Operator permit from the Board of Police Commissioners is required wherever vehicles are moved on or over a public right-of-way. An operator serving multiple locations needs a Master Valet Parking Operator Permit. And every attendant who drives a car or handles a key needs an individual attendant permit and has to display a valid Board-issued identification card while working.
The ordinance sets the operator permit at $314.00 and the attendant permit at $70.00. Those are permits the company carries, not a line item on your event.
There is a piece of this that surprises hosts in the hillside neighborhoods: the Board can designate Valet Parking Residential Sensitive Zones, and an operation inside one needs an additional One-Day Permit on top of everything else. If your block is in one, that is not something a company discovers on the evening of your party.
The code also sets the insurance floor for permitted operators: $1,000,000 per occurrence and $2,000,000 aggregate in general liability, $250,000 per occurrence and $1,000,000 aggregate in garage keeper’s legal liability, and $1,000,000 per occurrence in vehicle liability, with deductibles capped at $5,000. Attendants must hold current California driver’s licenses, wear identifying uniforms showing their full names, and cannot have felony convictions within seven years involving violence, dishonesty, auto theft, vandalism, reckless driving or DUI. Operators have to issue sequentially numbered claim checks, post their rates on signage, and keep financial records for three years.
We hold the city operator permit and every one of our attendants carries their own card. Valet parking in Los Angeles →
West Hollywood
West Hollywood permits valet under Municipal Code Chapter 5.120, entirely separate from the City of Los Angeles. Two details matter for an event host. First, the license sits with the operator — but the host business has to provide a written statement requesting the operator’s services, so you are asked for one piece of paper. Second, the city provides a short-term license valid up to seven calendar days for a non-recurring special event, which is exactly the instrument a one-night party on Sunset needs.
WeHo also requires garage liability coverage of its own, and because the city is policed by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department rather than LAPD, larger operations with traffic control get coordinated with LASD rather than with a city police department. Valet parking in West Hollywood →
Beverly Hills
Beverly Hills runs its own valet permitting and publishes two separate application tracks: a short-term valet permit for one-off events, and a commercial valet parking permit for ongoing locations such as restaurants and hotels. A Los Angeles operator permit has no standing on a Beverly Hills street, and the city’s residential blocks come with their own signage conditions written into the permit itself.
Beverly Hills updates its forms, fees and lead times on its own schedule, so rather than publish a number here that may be stale by the time you read it, we confirm the current requirement for your exact address and date before you book. The city publishes its current applications at beverlyhills.org. Valet parking in Beverly Hills →
Santa Monica
Santa Monica issues both an annual valet permit, running July 1 to June 30, and a one-day temporary permit for a single event. The published fees are the highest in the region we work in: $954.25 for a new application, $786.65 for an annual renewal, $583.65 for a one-day temporary permit, and $1,069.10 for sign installation, plus charges for lost meter revenue where the operation takes metered spaces out of service.
The condition that catches operators out is not a fee: in Santa Monica all vehicle parking must be on private property. A plan that assumes cars can be lined up along a public curb is not a plan the city will approve. Applications go through Traffic Engineering, with a certificate of insurance and signed agreements between the client business, the parking facility operator and the valet operator. Valet parking in Santa Monica →
Pasadena — where the host files too
Pasadena is the clearest case of this on the whole page. The city permits the operator, the company driving the cars, and separately issues a Valet Sponsor Permit to the sponsor — typically the business or property owner responsible for the establishment. The sponsor permit carries responsibility for the operator’s compliance and for all street usage and parking meter fees, and it lets the sponsor change valet companies while keeping the same permit.
The published fee schedule for 2026–27 is unusually transparent: $86.00 application processing, $177.00 for a special event sponsor permit, $104.00 for an annual sponsor permit, $115.00 for an annual operator permit, $170.00 for valet sign installation, $1.00 per hour per space in street usage on non-metered blocks, and the full meter rate for any meter covered. Lead times: 10 working days for a special event permit, 20 working days for an annual one, and four to six weeks where a new application requires a public hearing. The City of Pasadena has to be named as additional insured on the general liability policy.
We handle the operator side and walk you through the sponsor permit when your event needs one — including telling you when it does not. Valet parking in Pasadena →
Burbank, Glendale, Culver City
These three come up constantly because their city lines run closer to Los Angeles addresses than most people picture. Burbank regulates valet under Municipal Code Title 6, Chapter 1, Article 29, with its own insurance and indemnification sections and its own grounds for revocation. The published requirements put the application at $324.00, annual renewal at $162.00, a temporary valet permit at $324.00 and “No Parking” signs at $1.00 each, on $1,000,000 aggregate general liability — and everything has to be filed with Community Development Transportation thirty days before the permit is needed. That thirty-day window is the one that surprises people, so a Burbank street event is worth raising with us early.
Glendale is the second city on this page where the host is on the paperwork. Its valet parking permit application, filed with the Public Works Department’s Engineering Division — Parking Section, is signed by the business establishment and the valet parking company, and both are held responsible for how the operation runs. The processing fee is $117.00 per application, insurance runs $1,000,000 per occurrence and $2,000,000 aggregate in general liability plus $1,000,000 in garage keeper’s and auto liability, and the application has to be in at least 48 hours before the event. Culver City issues its own permit as well.
The point that matters: an LA permit is not valid in Burbank, a Burbank permit is not valid in Glendale, and none of the three is valid in Pasadena. Each one stops at its own line.
Malibu, Marina del Rey and unincorporated county
Malibu works differently. Rather than a valet-specific permit, the pressure point is the special event permit: in residential zones, an event anticipating 100 or more people needs one, as does an event at a short-term rental with 15 or more guests, or any event with an admission fee, public advertising, or that is set up to draw media. Coastal locations can also bring Los Angeles County and, in some areas, California Coastal Commission considerations into the picture. Valet parking in Malibu →
Marina del Rey has no city hall, no city business license and no city valet permit — it is unincorporated Los Angeles County, governed by County Code Title 19, and the Department of Beaches & Harbors is the authority for activity on county property, typically through a Right of Entry permit. A City of Los Angeles operator permit governs City of Los Angeles streets and nothing else, which catches people out constantly because the neighborhood two minutes north is the City of Los Angeles.
What permits cost, and who actually pays
This is where we would rather be blunt than diplomatic, because it is the thing hosts get surprised by.
How to check that your valet company is actually permitted
You are the one whose property the operation runs from, so it is worth three questions before you sign anything.
- Which city is my address in? Not the mailing city — the jurisdiction. If the answer is vague, stop there.
- Do you hold that city’s operator permit, and can I see it? An operator who works mostly outside your city may not hold the one your street needs.
- In the City of Los Angeles: does every attendant carry a Board-issued identification card? The code requires each attendant to hold their own permit and display that card while working. If a company cannot show you those cards, its people are not permitted to work your street.
The reason this matters is not tidiness. An unpermitted valet operation on a public street is a citation risk during your event and an insurance conversation afterwards, and neither of those lands on the operator’s calendar — they land on yours.
How far ahead to file
For a weekend event in peak season, two to four weeks gives us room to walk the address, plan the crew and file whatever your specific block requires. The published windows vary more than you would expect: Burbank asks for the filing thirty days ahead, Pasadena publishes 10 working days for a special event permit and 20 for an annual one, and Glendale sets a floor of 48 hours. The longest window on your list is the one that sets your date, and none of these cities publish a promise on top of it.
We do take same-day and next-day bookings when a crew is available. What a rushed booking does is narrow the permit options rather than remove them — which is exactly why booking earlier is genuinely calmer, and often cheaper.
Sources. Los Angeles Municipal Code Sec. 103.203 (Valet Parking) and the City of Los Angeles valet parking permits ordinance; West Hollywood Municipal Code Chapter 5.120; City of Santa Monica valet permit fee schedule and application requirements; City of Pasadena Valet Sponsor Permit application materials and 2026–27 fee schedule, Department of Transportation; City of Beverly Hills valet parking permit applications; City of Malibu special event permit requirements; Burbank Municipal Code Title 6, Chapter 1, Article 29 and the City of Burbank valet parking permit requirements; the City of Glendale valet parking permit application, Public Works Department; Los Angeles County Code Title 19 and Department of Beaches & Harbors permit information. Fees and lead times are set by each city and change without notice — figures above are as published and current to August 2026. This page is written from an operator’s experience of filing these permits; it is not legal advice, and the issuing city is always the authority on its own rules.