India, Jan. 9 -- I was walking along the black volcanic sands of El Zonte, a laid-back town on El Salvador's Pacific coast, when I snapped a photo of a modern, wavelike pavilion made of glass and pine. Within moments, I was accosted by a security guard who mistook me for a paparazzo; a famous Spanish actor was staying at Al Suave House, a five-bedroom villa that looked as if it had been plucked from a glossy design magazine.

The celebrity clientele says a lot about how far this once-sleepy village has come. El Zonte first attracted local and international surfers in the 1990s, drawn to the consistent waves and tight knit community. (The town was largely spared from lingering violence of a civil war between the military and left-leaning ...