A little too late... but yeah, I was there, too. Keep Austin Weird!
Leslie the transvestite flower seller... he even ran for city council, or maybe it was mayor; I forget. Once you saw Leslie in a thong and hooker heels, it was something you just could never unsee...
Good times, good times...
I moved away in 2006; I'm told it's getting to be more and more "just another big city..."
haha, yeah man. The first time I saw Leslie was around 1996 I think when I first moved there.
I was working at Dell on the north side of town and I always passed by this particular Albertson's grocery store on the way to work. Leslie had his little bicycle cart thing set up out there with the text "Hungry, Broke, Desperate dude" stenciled on the side. I saw him every day with his long hair, various bikinis and stilettos every day.
One day I went into Albertson's just to talk to him. I just had to. That day he had a giant sign that read "Alberson's Unfair!". I can't remember why, something about them trying to run him off the parking lot. I walked up to him and said hi, then asked the time. He was so normal that it made it hilarious. He's was like "Oh, yeah man - it's like 3:30pm."
I guess I expected a girly voice or something but he was a total dude. Damn shame what happened to him.
It's also a shame what has happened to Austin. I guess too many people figured out it was a cool place to be and ruined it.