Today we’d like to introduce you to Adam Duford
Adam, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I grew up in Philly and when The Real World came to town in 2003 I started a career working in reality television. Naturally I ended up living in LA, and spent most of the next 10 traveling for work and pleasure. After a stint living in NYC, my wife and I decided to move back to LA once our daughter was born. I used this moment to break away from TV (it was a fun job for a while but didn’t want to raise a family with those hours), and set out on my next career. My go-to joke is I’m the first person in history to move to LA to get out of the TV Industry.
Anyway after trying to figure out what was next I stumbled up Surf City Tours. The old owner was moving on and it combined many of the things I love; travelers, the beach and working with a team. I jumped in excited, also naive, and got ready to begin my new journey as a tour operator. This was November 2019. 3 months later the world shut down.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
It was through those tough Covid Years though that I was able (forced) to scale everything back to its essence and build it back up the way I thought I would want it to be as a traveler coming to visit LA. In the end I think those difficult times made us better, and obviously made the good times that much sweeter.
In general I think one of the main lessons I’ve learned in this endeavor is that owning a small business, pandemic or not, just is struggle. That’s just what it is, accept it and move on. Actually don’t just accept it, relish it! I didn’t go to business school, maybe they teach that there, but for me that’s the main thing I don’t think people think about when looking into running their own business.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
Surf City Tours is a sightseeing tour operator located in Santa Monica, California. We offer various tours in our customized open air busses through the most popular areas of Los Angeles and it’s surrounds. Daily we have tours to Hollywood/Beverly HIlls, Malibu and Venice. We also put together specialty tours, including our popular Surf Tour which gives the guests a truly unique surf experience along our iconic coast.
Our motto is Beach Vibes + Good Times, and we are proud to represent the beach communities of LA for guests from around the world. We pride ourselves on our friendly customer service and integrity as a business. There’s also a special satisfaction when we get some locals on one of our tours, and inevitable hear; “Oh my god I drove past that a million times and I had no idea!”.
What sort of changes are you expecting over the next 5-10 years?
It will be interesting to see. I feel like we’re just barely getting out of the pandemic era, but I do think out of that came a desire by the public for more small group activities as opposed to the big-bus type tour. For sure for the tour and travel industry in LA in general we’ll be seeing some big campaigns ahead of the World Cup and Olympics in 2026/2028. Also a giant change will be once autonomous vehicles because more assessable. I don’t think the live guide will ever be replaced with any quality, but it would be cool to let the vehicle do the driving!
Pricing:
- $89 per Adult (Hollywood and Malibu Tours)
- $75 per Senior/Child/Veteran (Hollywood and Malibu Tours)
- $65 per Adult (Venice Tour)
- $50 per Senior/Child/Veteran (Venice Tour)
- $185 All Day Surf Tour
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.surfcitytours.com
- Instagram: surfcitytoursLA
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/surfcitytours
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@surfcitytours
