Beacon Hill is the charming Seattle neighborhood that’s secretly home to the city’s tiniest gay district. On one corner of Beacon Avenue South sits Baja Bistro, the lovable family-style Mexican restaurant that’s connected to a sliver of a bar that is gloriously gay (and super-nice to everyone, regardless of their lap habits). Across the street sits Inay’s Asian Pacific Cuisine, a homey Filipino restaurant with a homo-heavy staff and a dinnertime drag show on Fridays. Go. (Baja Bistro, 2414 Beacon Ave S, 323-0953, 8 am–10 pm, bar open till midnight; Inay’s Asian Pacific Cuisine, 2503 Beacon Ave S, 325-5692, 9 am–9 pm)

David Schmader—former weed columnist and Stranger associate editor—is the author of the solo plays Straight and Letter to Axl, which he’s performed in Seattle and across the US. His latest...