Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office

Sheriff's One-Day Liquor Permit (temporary events)

An event serving alcohol for a single day in unincorporated Santa Clara County, the contract cities of Saratoga, Cupertino or Los Altos Hills, or on Stanford University lands needs a $25 One-Day Liquor Permit from the Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office, alongside the state ABC one-day license itself. This scope is broader than the county's own zoning/Use Permit layer for a standing alcohol-selling business, which reaches only the unincorporated area: the Sheriff's one-day permit instead follows the Sheriff's own law-enforcement service contracts, which happen to cover Saratoga, Cupertino and Los Altos Hills (each of which contracts with the Sheriff's Office for police services) in addition to the unincorporated area and Stanford. A restaurant, coffee shop or retail store organising a one-day event with alcohol service inside any other incorporated city applies to that city's own police department instead of the County Sheriff. This $25 fee applies only to the one-day event permit; a standing, non-temporary alcohol license at a fixed location goes through the state ABC process and, in the unincorporated area, the county zoning/Use Permit layer listed separately.