Laguna Beach, CA
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Zinc Cafe and Market is the ultimate lunch and breakfast spot downtown, with outstanding, healthy salads, sandwiches, and gourmet goodies, and a sunny outdoor dining area aglow with greenery and set with zinc tables. The self-serve fast-food restaurant Taco Loco is more than just a favorite surfer hangout - it serves fish fajitas and tacos to die for, available in many varieties: octopus, shrimp, mahimahi, and so on. Plenty of folks rave about the blackened-mushroom-tofu burgers, too. Get your java fix at Koffee Klatch, a cheerful storefront coffeehouse in the gay neighborhood, with tantalizing desserts, sandwiches, and Wi-Fi.

With the Coast Inn and its Boom Boom Room nightclub club having closed, Laguna Beach is not a major destination for gay nightlife. Bounce is the town's only gay bar - it's a cozy basement lounge with comfy seating, and it's close to Koffee Klatch and several other gay-friendly businesses along South Coast Highway. There's popular cabaret and karaoke some nights, and the bar draws both women and men of all ages. If you're looking for a bit more clubbing action, you can always drive up to Long Beach (40 minutes north), which has a nice selection of lively gay bars.

Laguna's Coast Highway is strung with generally mainstream but gay-friendly lodgings, from posh hotels that face the ocean to a few basic motels. In the absence of a true gay resort in Laguna Beach, a number of properties nevertheless have a strong gay following. At the luxury end, the swank Surf and Sand Resort sits right on the beach, each of its 152 spacious rooms and suites offering panoramic ocean views. The tastefully appointed units have muted, contemporary furnishings and color schemes. The resort also has a top-notch spa, Aqua Terra, and there's a beautiful patio overlooking the sea that's perfect for weddings - the resort is very amenable to same-sex ceremonies.

An enchanting Spanish Mission-style compound, gay-owned Casa Laguna Inn draws a mainstream clientele but also has a strong GLBT following. The property has lush gardens and courtyards strewn with bougainvillea and queen palm trees, a pool and sundeck shaded by banana and avocado trees, and a small but exceptional spa. The wide-ranging accommodations (which are pet-friendly) include a small romantic cottage with phenomenal views, and about 20 additional units ranging from sprawling ocean-view suites to moderately priced courtyard rooms. Nearby, Laguna Brisas Spa Hotel is a cheerful property with a good reputation in the gay and lesbian community. Rooms are done in cool pastels; they're big, comfortable, and have ocean views - and all have two-person whirlpool tubs. The setting is a dramatic hill, with rooms tumbling down the side.

It's not quite as laidback as your typical beachfront hotel, but the formality of the magnificent Ritz-Carlton Laguna Niguel is worth braving if only to behold the breathtaking views from its stunning waterfront setting. Rooms are spacious and outfitted with top-notch amenities, including glamorous marble baths, goose-down pillows, terry robes. Even if you don't stay here, consider dropping by for a treatment in the magnificent spa, snacking in ENO wine- and chocolate-tasting bar, or enjoying dinner in the ultra-posh Restaurant 162, named for its spectacular location on a bluff 162 feet above the ocean.

Andrew Collins is the author of Fodor's Gay Guide to the USA and as well as numerous other guidebooks.