Toronto Life August 1999
The woman in me At Take a walk on the
Wildside the cross-dressers' oasis hidden inside a
grey semidetached across from Allan Gardens there's
no psychoanalysis. No gender deconstruction theory.
Just rows of satin teddies and size-twelve pumps and
a place for men to wear them. The guys scurrying past
the PANTY THIEVES WILL BE shot ON SIGHT Sign toward the
changerooms are mostly straight, ranging from bikers
to bankers. Once transformed ($128.40) for the special: full makeup, an outfit, padding, wig and heels),'
the nervier faux-femmes take a stroll to the Eaton
Centre, while the less brazen swap small talk in the
second-floor lounge. On the third floor you'll find a
couple of beds (bunk overnight for $53.50), a fourchair vanity and two dozen lockers; in the basement,
there's a Friday night clinic for transsexuals. It'sall the child of Paddy Aldridge, who moved the operation from her front room to Gerrard Street in 1991.
She met Tom Sloan (a.k.a. Roxy Wildside, pictured
here) in 1994, when he came in for a feminine over
haul. Three years later, the couple married in a
lavish double-gown wedding. Frank Prendergast