Before we can get into how marketing firm Intertrend and Cal State Long Beach interior design students came together to help move a much-loved DTLB bakery into the future, we have to look at a moment that many people who have long been a part of a neighborhood have experienced.
Intertrend Communications CEO Julia Huang had one pondering question while staring across Broadway from her business toward the underrated DTLB gem that is DoLy’s Bakery. She used to go there all the time to pick up a croissant and coffee. Then, it hit her: She would constantly find herself at Recreational Coffee instead.
“I thought about it and then it hit: Recreational was more contemporary, more welcoming,” Julia honestly said. “I even returned back to DoLy’s, thinking their coffee wasn’t that good; I was proven wrong: it’s a good cup of coffee. But the space just feels dated and unappealing. That’s when I selfishly thought: ‘I want DoLy’s to be a better space for me—and then, just maybe, it can bring a new generation of people in for them.'”
How Intertrend and CSULB students worked to reimagine DoLy’s
Intertrend’s team—led by Chief Operating Officer Wade Guang and Chief Investment Strategy Officer Tanya Raukko—approached two interior designers at CSULB. Tenured professor and LAVA Design Studio owner Eduardo Perez and full-time lecturer Britt Griffith took their BFA classes and tasked them with one major endeavor: re-think DoLy’s not just for its future, but for a reflection of its quality and worth.
First, some probono work from Intertrend, where their Microsoft Publisher 97-like logo gave way for a hyper clean, homey vibe where “everyday deliciousness is conveyed through a hand-drawn style, reflective of DoLy’s warmth and sense of companionship,” Tanya said. Then, the work from the students.
On one hand, students were tasked with a “feasible design”—that is, a design that could likely be achieved by the DoLy’s owners through some investment of their own, along with some hopeful grants and support from outside resources. Second, more elaborate dream designs were the second task, allowing students to show DoLy’s what was possible in the very space they’ve occupied for over 15 years.
A look into the two final, proposed designs…
Mid-term assessements were led by the Intertrend team, leading to the final choosing of two projects at the end of the Fall semester.
First, CSULB students Lauren Gentili, Julia Swann, and Evelyn Yoshida from Eduardo’s class went in for a grayish-blues-meets-earthtones vibe that mixes stone and woods with repetitive, straight lines.
“Repetition reflects the rhythm of structure and routine,” the team shared. “The repeated lines, materials, and forms create a sense of harmony and order within the industrial space. Layers then reveal depth within simplicity. The combination of cool blues and warm browns adds texture and subtle complexity, bringing warmth and authenticity to the minimalist design. Juxtaposition highlights the balance between raw and refined. The contrast of warmth and coolness, softness and structure, creates quiet tension and visual interest throughout the space.”
Secondly, Britt’s winning students—An Kida, Erika Linares, and Waranton Phochatkaew—opted for natural woods with pops of bright yellow and playful if not outright witty design elements that showcase the whimsical side of baking.
“We wanted the space to wake people up,” the second team said. “As soon as customers step into the space, their brains should switch on… We wanted the space to reflect this concept through transformation, flow, and addition. Similar to how our brains function when we are tired—our thoughts are scattered and slow, like messy waves… We want to quicken this transformation of tiredness to alertness by enhancing the flow of grab-and-go movement. This is important because time is valuable: some people might need to catch the metro, while students might be running late to class. By improving the flow of navigation within space, we hope DoLy’s can truly become everyone’s pick-me-upper.”
What does this mean for the future?
A five-year partnership-meets-scholarship—and hopes that the DTLB Design District will use its cultural leverage for community betterment.
“Intertrend has a five-year partnership with CSULB that is built on a shared vision of enhancing Long Beach’s business community for present and future generations,” Tanya said. “By leveraging each organization’s strengths, CSULB and Intertend will work collaboratively to amplify their shared vision. The partnership will focus on creating and supporting architecture, while implementing practical, creative design plans and solutions that local Long Beach businesses can use. Two student team scholarships—for $1500 each—will be part of an annual contest.”
On top of this, it amplifies the use and direction of the DTLB Design District.
The Design District has become a living blueprint for what happens when creativity is treated as infrastructure rather than ornament. Here, architecture studios, creative firms, artists, adaptive-reuse warehouses, small manufacturers, galleries, and community events coexist within the same ecosystem. It represents a shift away from the idea that culture is something imported or confined to nightlife blocks—and toward a model where design, art, and local entrepreneurship are everyday, street-level forces shaping how the city grows. In a place long defined by port commerce and pass-through traffic, the district signals a different future: one rooted in local talent, collaborative energy, and the belief that thoughtful design can be both economically catalytic and deeply human in scale.
DoLy’s has been around DTLB for nearly two decades—and is one of the few bakeries in the neighborhood.
With Colonial Bakery shuttering back in July of 2025, 5th Ave. sticking to solely bagels, and coffeeshops importing their baked goods, DoLy’s Delectables is the sole coffee joint dedicated to making its own baked goods. The concept? It has been around since 2007—nearing its 20th birthday—while the store formally opened in 2010.
Tucked into the ground floor of an office building on Broadway just off Long Beach Boulevard. Open early each morning, the shop is known for its scratch-made pastries—croissants, muffins, tarts, and other baked goods—that are ready by the time doors open at 6AM. Behind the scenes, co-owner and baker Son Ly begins his days well before sunrise, maintaining a daily rhythm that has defined the bakery since it opened.
The bakery takes its name from its owners, Son Ly and Julie Do, who combined their last names to create DoLy’s. (And it’s not pronounced “Dah-lees” but “Doh-lees.”) The couple opened the shop after Ly pivoted careers following the 2008 housing market crash, leaving real estate to pursue formal culinary training and later apprenticing under a French pastry chef in Santa Monica. With limited experience, no local roots in Long Beach at the time, and just the two of them running daily operations, DoLy’s began as a leap of faith, built on long hours and consistency.
Now more than 15 years in, DoLy’s Delectables has built a loyal following of regulars and a reputation for quality that reaches beyond the neighborhood. The shop is supported by a longtime staff and continues to operate with the same hands-on approach that defined its early years. Even today, Ly remains deeply involved in daily production, arriving before dawn to prepare the pastries that have made DoLy’s a staple of Downtown Long Beach’s morning routine.
DoLy’s delectables is located at 245 E. Broadway.
