Blue laws - ??

I’m no help since I’m in California, too, but I do remember when my sisters and I had a heck of a time finding somewhere to have Sunday brunch in Sturbridge MA, oh, at least 20 years ago. They served breakfast until 10:00 and then closed down until lunch time, or else they weren’t open at all on Sunday.

My one sister who lives in New England said it was Puritan hangover, like there’s a vague, subconscious feeling that no one should be playing around eating a late, leisurely brunch on a Sunday morning. 

We finally found a small place on a side street that was actually serving all-day breakfast, and it was mobbed.   To this day, we still joke about “no brunch for you!” in Puritan Massachusetts.

And that’s my only story that’s in the same general neighborhood as blue laws.

I don’t think they are a thing on the west coast as much as the east coast. I have never encountered them here, but I did a lot on the east coast, NY mostly.

I am just old enought to remember them in upstate New York.
Not only was everything closed on sunday, but I remember stores being closed from sundown Friday to Monday morning.

Born and raised in San Diego, California and I remember stores and the mall not opening until noon on Sundays.

I think there used to be hours that you couldn’t buy alcohol. It was in the grocery stores but they couldn’t sell it late at night or early morning. This was before I was old enough to buy it.

I also think car dealers were closed on Sundays. I know there were more stores that were closed on Sundays in downtown areas unlike today.

We used to in ND, stores couldn’t open till noon on Sunday’s. You couldn’t sell liquor. It used to be stores could not open at all. They were repealed finally - and that went into effect in August 2019.

Although I think car dealerships still have some relic of a blue law applying where they can’t open on Sunday’s at all.

I’ve never heard them called Blue Laws. When I lived in Alabama, you couldn’t buy alcohol on Sundays. They sold alcohol (beer/wine; you had to get liquor at a state-run ABC store normally) at Target, and they marked it off with stanchions.

It is religious, dating way back. The state I live in is still very Catholic and so there is opposition every time someone suggests relaxing the rules.

I have to say, after the initial adjustment when I first came to live here, I rather like the relaxed pace of Sundays around here. People go to church, go out to brunch or meet as an extended family for lunch. Not right now, obviously!

Actually, you cannot buy liquor at all on Sundays in Texas. Liquor stores are closed. You can buy beer and wine at grocery stores after noon on Sundays. 

Same here. They actually rope off the beer/wine aisle at the 24 hour Walmart.

South Carolina has a long and convoluted history of Blue Laws primarily due to being a staunch part of the bible belt. There's still a statewide ban on retail alcohol sales on Sundays, but various counties and municipalities have circumvented it with their own laws allowing it. So you can go to a grocery store on one side of the lake and buy it on Sunday, but boat over the other side and find that it's illegal.

For the longest time, you couldn't buy loooonnngggg lists of certain items on Sundays. Which for some reason included pantyhose back when women wore such things. If you snagged your hose getting ready for church, too bad. Even though a store that was open had them, they couldn't sell them to you. Walmarts here would quite literally rope off the areas of the store you were not allowed in. Almost all of that was lifted in, I believe, 2015.

South Carolina was also the very last state in the country to lift a ban on Election Day alcohol sales.

We can be pretty backwards here.

Bergen County New Jersey still has them. As a result there are no car sales in NJ on Sundays, and the most popular mall in the state is closed. I loved Sundays in NJ when I lived there since they seemed to be a lot quieter due to the Blue Laws.

Yup, have them in Illinois. No liquor sales before noon on Sundays. Car dealerships closed. On the liquor sales, someone told me it was a Chicago ordinance only so I don’t really know if it’s for the whole state. If I remember correctly, they’re called blue laws because the original restrictions were printed on blue paper.

Car dealerships can be open on Sundays  now but not both Saturday and Sunday. They have to close one weekend day. I think that's still the law anyway.