I bought my first surfboard at Huntington Surf and Sport in 2002. I was 11. More accurately, my parents bought me a surfboard. I still remember it – some 6’4″ flat-rockered Rusty, with chunky rails. By then I had already learned to surf on a 7’6″ fun shape that wasn’t mine, and I was ready to tear it up on a shortboard. At 100-or-so pounds, that board was hard to turn, but it taught me a lot, namely that surfing ability doesn’t automatically improve when you shorten your equipment.
My story isn’t unique. In fact there are probably thousands if not hundreds of thousands of similar stories – burgeoning loves for the ocean and the waves supported by a local surf shop that can both sell you the tools and properly advise you for the best experience. Brick and mortar stores are designed to sell product, like local watering holes sell beer, or cafés are built to sell coffee. But distilling their value down to their capitalistic intentions and profit motives is perhaps an oversimplification.
Surf shops do more than hawk their wares. They’re purveyors of culture, meeting places for local groms, displays of various craft that hobby shapers can draw from for inspiration (even if they don’t make a purchase), etc., etc. And surf shops owned and operated by surfers ensure the culture is curated by those who also have a stake in it.
HSS is a hub for the surf community in Huntington Beach. Owned and operated by the Pai family, Aaron being its patriarch, the place is an institution, occupying the southeastern corner of Main Street and Pacific Coast Highway. Aaron and his sons Trevor and Taylor work in the offices a few levels above the shop, able to see what the Southside of the Pier is doing from their windows or office balcony, squeezing a surf in when the work load’s light.
If you walk through HSS, you’ll notice photos all over the walls – some of the family surfing or fishing in Tavarua (their annual trip), some of local rippers, groms, shop staff, or the Huntington Beach High School Surf Team. The imagery embodies a family spirit intrinsic in the idea of a community surf shop, where everyone knows your name.
HSS is more than a surf shop, and the Pai family is in it less to make money than to share with the world their love for surfing – a sport and a community they care about so deeply.
“I think people get the wrong impression, like I’m rich or we’re rich,” says Aaron. “But we’re not. We’re rich in family. That’s what’s rich.”
Trevor and Taylor have now grown into the business that’s been a passion project for their dad for so long. And with kids of their own, soon the next generation of Pais will be playing hide and seek in the clothes racks, hanging out in the store, and working on the sales floor.
“I’m just excited for my kids to be a part of it,” says Taylor. “Growing up this is what we did every weekend. And for my children, my sons to be a part of it. It’s just really special.”
