Sections of Surf Beach are closed between March 1 and September 30 every year during the nesting season of the western snowy plover.

[2] The affected areas may be opened earlier than September 30 if all the newly hatched birds reach their fledgling stage beforehand.

[5] If a set number of trespass violations have been reached during any nesting season (currently 50), the beach is closed entirely.

[6][7] Surf grew as a railway town to accommodate the personnel needed to maintain the trains and tracks after Southern Pacific Railroad built a station here for its Coast Line in 1900.

As trains modernized, Surf experienced depopulation, to the point where Southern Pacific was only operating a telegraph station.