Background and Objective. California banned workplace smoking in 1995. An exemption for bars was superceded by enactment of the Smokefree-Bars Law in 1998. Since then we have studied responses to the law in the City of Long Beach. We present here our results on compliance, a requirement for realization of the law’s intended public health benefits.

Methods. From Fall 1998 to Spring 2001, we observed a sample of 35 bars at six time points and gathered three measures of compliance: smoking, ashtrays, and, beginning in Spring 2000, odor of cigarettes. All observations from Fall 1998 to Fall 1999 were made during daytime hours; beginning in Spring 2000 we added early evening observations. The Health Department provided numbers of telephoned complaints about compliance violations.

Results. All measures showed higher compliance in restaurant-bars than in stand-alone bars. All restaurant-bars in the sample were in compliance, defined by no observed smoking or ashtrays, by Spring or Fall 2000. Smoking inside stand-alone bars also decreased initially, but then began to increase after Fall 1999. We observed ashtrays in nearly half of stand-alone bars until Fall 2000, when ashtrays began to decrease. Cigarette odor was significantly greater within stand-alone bars at all time points and time periods. All measures showed less compliance in the early evening hours compared to daytime. Telephoned complaints decreased over time, with the steepest declines in 1998.

Conclusions. These results can contribute to local compliance and enforcement protocols and may be of assistance to other communities planning similar tobacco control policies.