It might not be the most conventional of business decisions to open a lifestyle store across from Oahu Community Correctional Center, the state’s largest jail, but Surf Line has never been a conventional company, and second-generation CEO Pua Rochlen is merely following precedent set by his father, operating in the spirit of fun and adventure.

The Surf Line Hawaii Ocean-Lifestyle Store in Kalihi revisits the roots of the company, which owes its existence to founder Dave Rochlen’s active ocean and road-warrior lifestyle.

The senior Rochlen started as a salaryman, a government systems analyst at Rand Corp., and a weekend outdoorsman in California before moving to Hawaii and adopting a full-time outdoor lifestyle. When he couldn’t find clothing he liked, Rochlen had his wife, Keanuenue, cut the legs off of comfy, roomy pajama pants at the knees, and the Jams phenomenon was born, coinciding with the opening of Rochlen’s first Surf Line shop in 1964.

Before the clothing company became reality, "he created the lifestyle first," Pua said of his father.

In fact, predating the 1960s youthquake, Dave Rochlen was a California lifeguard in 1947 when he was photographed for a Life magazine cover story, "Holiday at the Beach." The magazine spread forever linked a romanticized vision of youth and leisure that lured many a suit out of the office.

Nearly 50 years later, Pua Rochlen said, the new lifestyle store came about when "I tried to buy a Zodiac (rigid-hull inflatable boat) and none of the dealers had any inventory."

Next thing you know, he was on the phone with Zodiac and became a dealer himself, with enough space to carry Zodiacs, a range of canoes and paddles for adults and children, stand-up surfboards, paipo boards, a souped-up electric car, beach bicycles, a towering display of vintage motorcycles that had been stored at the Surf Line factory — and, oh, let’s not forget the clothing.

The racks aren’t limited to Surf Line and Jams apparel, but also include some of Rochlen’s favorite contemporary men’s lines such as Bills Khakis, Zenfari and Jet Lag, with leather outerwear, and one-of-a-kind garments for both men and women, created with vintage fabric from the company archives.

"I’m just following Hawaii tradition," Rochlen said. "Most people who grow up here grow up playing at the beach and spending weekends with their family with their coolers and umbrellas."

The shop may have turned out to be the glossy equivalent of a man cave or men’s toy store, but the nod to women’s wear was an acknowledgment that females do most of the household shopping and gift-buying.

The store is divided into themed oases, such as one wall devoted to paipo boards bearing Surf Line fabric designs and shirts to match, and another area devoted to travel apparel. A third wall is dedicated to legendary motorcyclist Malcolm Smith’s annual spring "Seven Days of Baja" ride from Tecate to Cabo San Lucas, which is also a fundraiser for El Oasis, a children’s orphanage Smith established in 1995 at Valle Trinidad in the Baja mountains.

"My father and I rode with Malcolm," Rochlen said, and to celebrate their travels and adventures, Surf Line creates an annual Seven Days of Baja shirt, with proceeds donated to the orphanage.

Looking around his latest creation, the company’s eighth store in two years, Rochlen said, "Everything in here has a story to it."