It’s a typical morning at the Huntington Beach pier. Surfers are catching waves, buskers are busking, and Brian Deliz is walking off breakfast with a few friends. All of this, Deliz said, is part of the city’s brand.
“It is Surf City USA,” he said, referring to the city’s official trademarked brand. “This is the sun, the beach, the weather. You can’t beat it.”
That is exactly what’s for sale at its official store on the pier here: Surf City T-shirts, sweatshirts, postcards, mugs. “We try to have products for all different price points,” co-owner Sally Wescott said, so that even a kid with $0.50 to spend can get a souvenir.
Wescott and Tina Viray are the private side of this public-private partnership. The store gets cheap rent for its coveted pier location, and the city gets 5% royalties on all sales of the store’s city-branded merch…