diff --git a/eventlet/corolocal.py b/eventlet/corolocal.py
index 990069f..1697a78 100644
--- a/eventlet/corolocal.py
+++ b/eventlet/corolocal.py
@@ -1,30 +1,50 @@
+import weakref
+
 from eventlet import greenthread
 
+__all__ = ['get_ident', 'local']
+
 def get_ident():
     """ Returns ``id()`` of current greenlet.  Useful for debugging."""
     return id(greenthread.getcurrent())
 
-# TODO: The base threadlocal class wants to call __init__ on itself for every new thread that associates with it; our corolocal doesn't do this, but should for 100% compatibility.  The implementation in _threading_local.py is so janky....
-class local(object):
-    """Coroutine equivalent of threading.local class."""
-    def __getattribute__(self, attr, g=get_ident):
-        try:
-            d = object.__getattribute__(self, '__dict__')
-            return d.setdefault('__objs', {})[g()][attr]
-        except KeyError:
-            raise AttributeError(
-                "No variable %s defined for the thread %s"
-                % (attr, g()))
 
-    def __setattr__(self, attr, value, g=get_ident):
-        d = object.__getattribute__(self, '__dict__')
-        d.setdefault('__objs', {}).setdefault(g(), {})[attr] = value
+# the entire purpose of this class is to store off the constructor
+# arguments in a local variable without calling __init__ directly
+class _localbase(object):
+    __slots__ = '_local__args', '_local__greens'
+    def __new__(cls, *args, **kw):
+        self = object.__new__(cls)
+        object.__setattr__(self, '_local__args', (args, kw))
+        object.__setattr__(self, '_local__greens', weakref.WeakKeyDictionary())
+        if (args or kw) and (cls.__init__ is object.__init__):
+            raise TypeError("Initialization arguments are not supported")
+        return self        
+        
+def _patch(thrl):
+    greens = object.__getattribute__(thrl, '_local__greens')
+    # until we can store the localdict on greenlets themselves,
+    # we store it in _local__greens on the local object
+    cur = greenthread.getcurrent()
+    if cur not in greens:
+        # must be the first time we've seen this greenlet, call __init__
+        greens[cur] = {}
+        cls = type(thrl)
+        if cls.__init__ is not object.__init__:
+            args, kw = object.__getattribute__(thrl, '_local__args')
+            thrl.__init__(*args, **kw)
+    object.__setattr__(thrl, '__dict__', greens[cur])
+        
 
-    def __delattr__(self, attr, g=get_ident):
-        try:
-            d = object.__getattribute__(self, '__dict__')            
-            del d.setdefault('__objs', {})[g()][attr]
-        except KeyError:
-            raise AttributeError(
-                "No variable %s defined for thread %s"
-                % (attr, g()))
+class local(_localbase):
+    def __getattribute__(self, attr):
+        _patch(self)
+        return object.__getattribute__(self, attr)
+
+    def __setattr__(self, attr, value):
+        _patch(self)
+        return object.__setattr__(self, attr, value)
+
+    def __delattr__(self, attr):
+        _patch(self)
+        return object.__delattr__(self, attr)
diff --git a/tests/thread_test.py b/tests/thread_test.py
index f2ab8bc..e695d06 100644
--- a/tests/thread_test.py
+++ b/tests/thread_test.py
@@ -1,9 +1,11 @@
+import weakref
 from eventlet.green import thread
 from eventlet import greenthread
 from eventlet import event
 import eventlet
+from eventlet import corolocal
 
-from tests import LimitedTestCase
+from tests import LimitedTestCase, skipped
 
 class Locals(LimitedTestCase):
     def passthru(self, *args, **kw):
@@ -18,6 +20,7 @@ class Locals(LimitedTestCase):
         self.results = []
         super(Locals, self).tearDown()
 
+    @skipped  # cause it relies on internal details of corolocal that are no longer true
     def test_simple(self):
         tls = thread._local()
         g_ids = []
@@ -37,3 +40,72 @@ class Locals(LimitedTestCase):
         self.failUnlessRaises(AttributeError, lambda: tls.value)
         evt.send("done")
         eventlet.sleep()
+
+    def test_assignment(self):
+        my_local = corolocal.local()
+        my_local.a = 1
+        def do_something():
+            my_local.b = 2
+            self.assertEqual(my_local.b, 2)
+            try:
+                my_local.a
+                self.fail()
+            except AttributeError:
+                pass
+        eventlet.spawn(do_something).wait()
+        self.assertEqual(my_local.a, 1)
+        
+    def test_calls_init(self):
+        init_args = []
+        class Init(corolocal.local):
+            def __init__(self, *args):
+                init_args.append((args, eventlet.getcurrent()))
+        
+        my_local = Init(1,2,3)
+        self.assertEqual(init_args[0][0], (1,2,3))
+        self.assertEqual(init_args[0][1], eventlet.getcurrent())
+        
+        def do_something():
+            my_local.foo = 'bar'
+            self.assertEqual(len(init_args), 2, init_args)
+            self.assertEqual(init_args[1][0], (1,2,3))
+            self.assertEqual(init_args[1][1], eventlet.getcurrent())
+            
+        eventlet.spawn(do_something).wait()
+        
+    def test_calling_methods(self):
+        class Caller(corolocal.local):
+            def callme(self):
+                return self.foo
+        
+        my_local = Caller()
+        my_local.foo = "foo1"
+        self.assertEquals("foo1", my_local.callme())
+        
+        def do_something():
+            my_local.foo = "foo2"
+            self.assertEquals("foo2", my_local.callme())
+            
+        eventlet.spawn(do_something).wait()        
+            
+        my_local.foo = "foo3"
+        self.assertEquals("foo3", my_local.callme())
+        
+    def test_no_leaking(self):
+        refs = weakref.WeakKeyDictionary()
+        my_local = corolocal.local()
+        class X(object):
+            pass
+        def do_something(i):
+            o = X()
+            refs[o] = True
+            my_local.foo = o
+            
+        p = eventlet.GreenPool()
+        for i in xrange(100):
+            p.spawn(do_something, i)
+        p.waitall()
+        del p
+        # at this point all our coros have terminated
+        self.assertEqual(len(refs), 1)
+        
\ No newline at end of file