Meet Pack Landfair | Author, Adventurer, Entrepreneur, and El Porto Surf Shop Owner

We had the good fortune of connecting with Pack Landfair and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Pack, is there a quote or affirmation that’s meaningful to you?
My college baseball coach, a legend of a man named Augie Garrido, who won more college baseball games than any coach in NCAA history, used to tell our team: “Having the courage to act on your own ideas – to be the person you want to become – is actually what life ends up being all about.”

Since graduating from college in 2006, my life has been dedicated 100% to acting on my own ideas. Initially that meant living on the back of a motorcycle, often sleeping outside, and working varying labor jobs as I crossed the 48 states to write and publish my first book. It also meant being the type of employee that I would want to have working for me, as I spent the first 12 years after graduating working for other people to support myself and to fund my dreams.

Courage isn’t easily come by. In fact, by definition, in order to exercise courage, one must be facing a fear. And overcoming our fears is perhaps life’s most rewarding challenge. Courage often means saying the difficult thing, or accepting temporary setbacks with grace and faith, or setting out on an unknown path toward an uncertain but desired destination.

I’ve thought long and hard about the person I want to be and the values I wish to espouse – as a brother, son, friend, neighbor and individual – and as a writer, leader, business owner, and boss. I made a commitment to myself to pay the price to be who I want and to create the life I wish, even when it means doing the inconvenient thing, or doing the unprofitable thing for the sake of doing what is right and being the person I set out to be.

What should our readers know about your business?
In 2017, I purchased El Porto Surf Shop through my company, Live The Land Of The Free Lifestyle LLC. I had started the company in 2014 originally to handle book-signing events with the publication of my first novel while I was still working as an actor for McDonald’s. As opportunities continued to present themselves, I grew and evolved my enterprise to take on any passions I could find to do at a profit. My role at McDonald’s allowed me to hire and maintain my own staff of part-time assistants. Some of them became the first employees of my company as well. Eventually I was not just selling my own signed book, but was also selling other autographed and rare books, and nearly any other product I loved that I could flip for customers at a profit.

My company was doing so well I no longer needed the money from my acting job, but was continuing to do it because it was such a unique experience bringing joy to so many people. Then i started dating someone back in Texas, where I went to college, and decided I would resign from my McDonald’s role to move near her, and evolve my business around living in Texas. When she mysteriously stopped speaking to me the week before my big move, I decided not to go and flew to California instead to go surfing to clear my head. That’s how I found El Porto Surf Shop – I was renting a surfboard coming directly from the airport – just as so many of our customers do. It was the perfect business for me. I had been renting surfboards in California since I was 11 years old, mainly while visiting my father at least once a year. I knew exactly how to improve the business to cater to that customer and was able to increase our annual revenue 400% within my first two years – trying and applying a combination of all I learned at McDonald’s, The Public Theater, The University of Texas Athletics Department and the military ROTC.

I can’t say any of it was or is easy. I expect challenge as part of my daily life, and I don’t know that I would ever want that to change. But it’s extremely fun for me. I learn new things everyday. I get to lead an outstanding team that I build and create on a daily basis. I also am committed to living on the road on a quest to surf all 182 coastal nations – so running a business while traveling full-time as a degree of difficulty. I have had my faith tested many times and I’ve learned to always look for the best in people, to trust people even when some have burned you, and to believe in myself and the visions I am bringing to life.

The El Porto brand is about surfing every day, about staying true to one’s dreams and values. We stand for integrity, service, a winning attitude, quality, authenticity, and value. As part of our commitment to both local and traveling surfers, we open every day at 6:30am to serve dawn patrol surfers. We are so committed to serving El Porto’s everyday surf crowd that we only close on Christmas, so our employees can enjoy family time.

Inspired by my customers, who come from all corners of the globe to rent surfboards at El Porto, I am on a quest to surf all 182 coastal nations. The first 19 countries of that journey – the people and philosophies learned along the way – are the subject of my second book, HERE TO SURF, VOL. 1

I live in El Porto and specifically bought El Porto Surf Shop to move here and surf every day. In addition to adding a lot of colorful murals to the walls inside and outside the surf shop, I have also created a neighborhood map featuring all our local businesses which we distribute to travelers and new residents.

The El Porto Surf Bus has been to 46 states so far with my dog and two girlfriends (not at the same time). When I am not driving it to surf around the country, the bus is a fixture in the El Porto Beach parking lot.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
First thing I do with any friend visiting El Porto (aside from surfing) is take them to comedy night at Pancho’s. Every Monday, professional touring comedians perform on the cantina stage for free, and afterwards they usually go sing karoake across the street at OB’s until 2am.

In the mornings, after surfing, I like to order avocado toast and mimosas at Cafe Wild. The Local Yolk is great for diner food as well. Of course, hanging out on the El Porto Surf Shop couch while watching our giant wave screen is a great mid-day past time, especially while enjoying a freshly rolled blunt of world-class California cannabis.

I like to grab snacks and drinks at Player’s Liquor downstairs and for lunch head across the street at Fishbar. For dinner, I like to go to Sloopy’s, especially on Friday night when they have live music!

My favorite surf spot in the area is of course, El Porto. I like to surf wherever the sandbar is breaking – 38th St, 45th St, and the Jetty are usually working most mornings.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
Everything I do with any success, I picked-up from someone. My mother and two older sisters raised me and held me to high standards at anything I chose to do – from homework, to sports, to student council. They taught me to be accountable. They also took me to my first surf lesson when I was 11 years old!

Though my father has always been somewhat of a distant figure – living on the other side of the country from Washington DC, where I was raised – he still provides nothing but encouragement toward anything I choose to do life. I had fantastic youth league wrestling ad baseball coaches and high school teachers who became minor father figures for me. They taught me work ethic as well as how to work with my mind, emotions and body. Ed Linz, a retired Navy Submarine Captain, became my high school physics teacher, but much more so became an inspiration as a courageous adventurer of life. My college writing professor – a poet, novelist, and world-traveler named Zulfikar Ghose – was a great inspiration to me and let me spend time with him at his house talking books in exchange for yard and pool work.

I learned everything I know about business from 7 years I spent working for the McDonald’s corporation and their franchisees – most notably Craig Welburn who owned and operated 63 stores while I was working for him. I owe that 7 year career portraying the company spokesperson to a friend named Al Moessinger who put his faith in me, filled me with confidence, and told his boss to hire me. He also became my role model in that job. I only was able to meet him because I had worked at the Public Theater in New York City where I got to be a part of the production staff, producing dozens of plays each year. I am extremely grateful for everything I learned there, and the team-oriented staff that took me in and taught me constantly. A man named Oskar Eustis ran the place, and bringing ideas to life was his specialty – and ours by extension. Similarly, my experience as a student-athlete at the University of Texas gave me access to the innerworkings of another multi-million dollar sports and entertainment business. My coach, Augie Garrido, and our Athletic Director, Deloss Dodds, were world-renowned in their professions, and getting to be around them was an education in how to succeed at anything.

I also am extremely grateful for the many friends I made while on college scholarship from the Navy ROTC, as well as the two years of military training the program provided me. The structure, routine, and discipline that remain in my life, wherever I am in the world, were instilled in me forever by my friends and leaders in the military.

Then, as soon as I became an employer and had to lead employees, I found great inspiration and wisdom from my mother. For most of my high school years, she was the boss of over 400 lifeguards each summer, running 45 different community and country club swimming pools. I hated her having that job back then because she was always so busy, but now I frequently seek my mother’s council when dealing with my employees as she is such a positive people person with years of experience running her own staffs.

Finally I’d like to thank the friends I have made on the road (in the US and abroad), who have given me places to stay and helped me find jobs to keep going. Three such friends are JC King, Dave McKeon, and Mark Chung, without whom I would not have the life, profession, or relationships I enjoy today.

Website: PackmanSurfsTheWorld.com, ElPortoSurfShop.com

Instagram: @elportosurfshop, @packmansurfstheworld

Twitter: @ElPortoSurfShop

Other: App stores -Apple and Google: El Porto app (with free live wave screen and daily surf report notification with inspiring quote)