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The Hyatt Centric at The Pike is proving to be one of DTLB’s coolest hotels—and not just because it is home to one of the most spectacular rooftop pools but because its bar, along with it’s Long Beach bartender/music guru/Bixby Knolls genius Tokotah Ashcraft, are genuinely great entities to DTLB.

Ashcraft is no stranger to the hotel or the bar scene, having been a part of it before Hyatt purchased it and the space was known as the Avia. (For SIP Week last year, she made Long Beach-inspired concoctions like The Pike’s Mark, her take on a New York Sour that goes for the flavors of autumn: Maker’s Mark, a drop of agave and apple cider are topped with a Mondavi Cabernet made specifically for Hyatt and garnished with a lemon rind.) Since then, it has transformed and is now known as the Hyatt Centric, part of a rebranding effort by the Hyatt to not only highlight the brand’s more modern locations but distinguish it locally from the Hyatt Regency across the way.

To do that, this Hyatt decides to keep it thoroughly Long Beach and, thanks to the local love that Ashcraft provides, things that only locals might know about.

Cocktails named the Bixby Bloom, Orange Ave., and Berth 562 are direct shout-outs to everything we love about our city. Surely, some might scoff at visiting a hotel bar rather than, say, The Blind Donkey, but Ashcraft would counter.

“The Hyatt has treated me incredibly well—they treat all staff really well,” Ashcraft said. “And I think locals would love this place. It’s kind of hidden, it’s has a beautiful layout, it’s chill… Plus you have me making drinks.”

The thing that makes the Bay Street Bar stand out more than anything—besides concoctions that include things like Ashcraft’s green tea-infused coconut rum and chamomile-steeped gin—is the fact that you can sit down and talk about all things Long Beach with her. From heading Bixby Knolls’ First Fridays to being a music curator for our Live After 5 series, Ashcraft serves up Long Beach-based drinks while handing out Long Beach speak.

And fear not if you have the munchies. The bar’s array of small plates offer everything from a spectacular cheese’n’charcuterie plate—one that easily feeds four people with snacks—to lamb’n’beef Greek sliders to a veggie korma flatbread.

Long Beachers, go get your Hyatt on, Long Beach style.

Hyatt Centric at The Pike is located at 285 Bay Street.