My two teenage daughters and my husband took surf lessons this past August on Pismo Beach with Sandbar Surf Company, who I found on-line. This was our very first time to California and surf lessons was one of the things our girls really wanted to try. We had originally signed up for the early afternoon class, but our travel plans did not allow enough time for us to get to Pismo in time, so Johnny recommended the early evening class with the sunset in the background (he said you might also see some dolphins in the background during the sunset).
Johnny and his assistant (whose name escapes me) were great in teaching my family how to surf. It's a lot of hard work and exhausting, but they were great and understanding of our lack of ability, and were eager to show us what we needed to know about surfing. We also did see some dolphins in the distance.
I didn't hurt that I got some GREAT pictures of the family surfing, with the sunset in the background. Highly recommended.