LONG BEACH – Surfer Sands, fast becoming an icon in the restaurant business here on the Peninsula, is now opening its own bakery.

Steve Chamberlain, owner of Surfer Sands and a six-year resident of Long Beach, has been producing some of the best pizza and sandwiches found anywhere, and things are just getting better.

Chamberlain, who admits to being “49 and holding” is a lifelong surfer who hails from Florence, Ore., and has “surfed it all.”

Chamberlain, who shuns the label of “businessman,” prefers to think of himself as a “surfing entrepreneur,” perhaps a holdover from his days as a free-spirited follower of big ocean waves.

He has his Volkswagen van parked alongside his business, but it is currently being pressed into the sandwich service business instead of something on which to lash surfboards.

“It took a while for word of our terrific menu and killer pizza to get around,” Chamberlain said, “but we’re doing really good now and the future looks bright. Our customers rave about our menu, and folks come from all over the Northwest for our food.”

Smiling out from under his ubiquitous white snap brim, Chamberlain can usually be found hard at work at the grill making sandwiches for his loyal followers who queue up every day to the walk-up window at Surfer Sands. When not cooking, Chamberlain is busily working to grow his now rapidly expanding wholesale business, which supplies his new line of bagels to other local outlets.

“I’m really jazzed about this new bakery of ours,” said Chamberlain. “We should have the new bakery store front, Beachin’ Bagels, open around Thanksgiving.”

Chamberlain explained where the name Surfer Sands originated. “Well, a long time ago, when my surfing buddies and I were sitting out on our boards waiting for a big set of waves to appear, we would talk about what we might add to our standard ‘surfer’ diet of bread and cheese, and those hungry dreams came to be called ‘surfer sandwiches,’ hence the shortened name ‘Surfer Sands.'”

When asked what was his favorite food at Surfer Sands, Chamberlain wasted no time. “A Big Kahuna with jalapenos, all hoagied up,” he said. Which, to us non-surfers, means a truly fine sandwich with all the trimmings at a reasonable price.

Steve Chamberlain’s Surfer Sands is located at 1113 S. Pacific Ave, just south of 10th St. on the west side of the highway, and is open every day for pizza and sandwiches from 10 a.m. to 7p.m. and the soon-to-open Beachin’ Bagel Bakery will be open at 8:30 a.m. for breakfast bagels.

You can also call 642-7873 for take-out orders.