diff --git a/actionpack/lib/action_controller/legacy/layout.rb b/actionpack/lib/action_controller/legacy/layout.rb
index 3046e082d9..3f3d20b95f 100644
--- a/actionpack/lib/action_controller/legacy/layout.rb
+++ b/actionpack/lib/action_controller/legacy/layout.rb
@@ -44,9 +44,6 @@ module ActionController #:nodoc:
     #   hello world
     #   // The footer part of this layout
     #
-    # NOTE: The old notation for rendering the view from a layout was to expose the magic <tt>@content_for_layout</tt> instance
-    # variable. The preferred notation now is to use <tt>yield</tt>, as documented above.
-    #
     # == Accessing shared variables
     #
     # Layouts have access to variables specified in the content pages and vice versa. This allows you to have layouts with
diff --git a/actionpack/lib/action_view/base.rb b/actionpack/lib/action_view/base.rb
index 1ca6f839a8..b994c7b141 100644
--- a/actionpack/lib/action_view/base.rb
+++ b/actionpack/lib/action_view/base.rb
@@ -170,12 +170,13 @@ module ActionView #:nodoc:
 
     attr_accessor :base_path, :assigns, :template_extension, :formats
     attr_accessor :controller
+    attr_internal :captures
 
     attr_accessor :output_buffer
 
     class << self
       delegate :erb_trim_mode=, :to => 'ActionView::TemplateHandlers::ERB'
-      delegate :logger, :to => 'ActionController::Base'
+      delegate :logger, :to => 'ActionController::Base', :allow_nil => true
     end
 
     @@debug_rjs = false
@@ -232,6 +233,7 @@ module ActionView #:nodoc:
       @assigns = assigns_for_first_render
       @controller = controller
       @helpers = ProxyModule.new(self)
+      @_content_for = Hash.new {|h,k| h[k] = "" }
       self.view_paths = view_paths
     end
 
diff --git a/actionpack/lib/action_view/helpers/capture_helper.rb b/actionpack/lib/action_view/helpers/capture_helper.rb
index b4197479a0..1c29eb3b81 100644
--- a/actionpack/lib/action_view/helpers/capture_helper.rb
+++ b/actionpack/lib/action_view/helpers/capture_helper.rb
@@ -116,10 +116,9 @@ module ActionView
       # named <tt>@content_for_#{name_of_the_content_block}</tt>. The preferred usage is now
       # <tt><%= yield :footer %></tt>.
       def content_for(name, content = nil, &block)
-        ivar = "@content_for_#{name}"
         content = capture(&block) if block_given?
-        instance_variable_set(ivar, "#{instance_variable_get(ivar)}#{content}")
-        nil
+        return @_content_for[name] << content if content
+        @_content_for[name]
       end
 
       # Use an alternate output buffer for the duration of the block.
diff --git a/actionpack/lib/action_view/render/partials.rb b/actionpack/lib/action_view/render/partials.rb
index eacf117bea..87314fff67 100644
--- a/actionpack/lib/action_view/render/partials.rb
+++ b/actionpack/lib/action_view/render/partials.rb
@@ -245,13 +245,6 @@ module ActionView
         end
       end
 
-      def _render_partial_with_block(layout, block, options)
-        @_proc_for_layout = block
-        concat(_render_partial(options.merge(:partial => layout)))
-      ensure
-        @_proc_for_layout = nil
-      end
-  
       def _render_partial_with_layout(layout, options)
         if layout
           prefix = controller && !layout.include?("/") ? controller.controller_path : nil
diff --git a/actionpack/lib/action_view/render/rendering.rb b/actionpack/lib/action_view/render/rendering.rb
index d120631e5d..a720012d1c 100644
--- a/actionpack/lib/action_view/render/rendering.rb
+++ b/actionpack/lib/action_view/render/rendering.rb
@@ -51,13 +51,12 @@ module ActionView
       end
   
       begin
-        original_content_for_layout = @content_for_layout if defined?(@content_for_layout)
-        @content_for_layout = content
+        old_content, @_content_for[:layout] = @_content_for[:layout], content
 
-        @cached_content_for_layout = @content_for_layout
+        @cached_content_for_layout = @_content_for[:layout]
         _render_template(layout, locals)
       ensure
-        @content_for_layout = original_content_for_layout
+        @_content_for[:layout] = old_content
       end
     end
 
@@ -66,12 +65,11 @@ module ActionView
         _evaluate_assigns_and_ivars
 
         template.render(self, local_assigns) do |*names|
-          if !instance_variable_defined?(:"@content_for_#{names.first}") && 
-          instance_variable_defined?(:@_proc_for_layout) && (proc = @_proc_for_layout)
-            capture(*names, &proc)
-          elsif instance_variable_defined?(ivar = :"@content_for_#{names.first || :layout}")
-            instance_variable_get(ivar)
-          end        
+          if !@_content_for.key?(names.first) && @_proc_for_layout
+            capture(*names, &@_proc_for_layout)
+          elsif content = @_content_for[names.first || :layout]
+            content
+          end
         end
       end
     rescue Exception => e
@@ -100,20 +98,18 @@ module ActionView
     end
 
     def _render_template_with_layout(template, layout = nil, options = {}, partial = false)
-      if controller && logger
-        logger.info("Rendering #{template.identifier}" + 
-          (options[:status] ? " (#{options[:status]})" : ''))
-      end
-  
+      logger && logger.info("Rendering #{template.identifier}#{' (#{options[:status]})' if options[:status]}")
+
+      locals = options[:locals] || {}
+
       content = if partial
         object = partial unless partial == true
         _render_partial_object(template, options, object)
       else
-        _render_template(template, options[:locals] || {})
+        _render_template(template, locals)
       end
   
-      return content unless layout
-      _render_content_with_layout(content, layout, options[:locals] || {})
+      layout ? _render_content_with_layout(content, layout, locals) : content
     end
   end
 end
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/actionpack/test/fixtures/layouts/builder.builder b/actionpack/test/fixtures/layouts/builder.builder
index 729af4b8bc..7c7d4b2dd1 100644
--- a/actionpack/test/fixtures/layouts/builder.builder
+++ b/actionpack/test/fixtures/layouts/builder.builder
@@ -1,3 +1,3 @@
 xml.wrapper do
-  xml << @content_for_layout
+  xml << yield
 end
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/actionpack/test/fixtures/layouts/standard.html.erb b/actionpack/test/fixtures/layouts/standard.html.erb
index 368764e6f4..5e6c24fe39 100644
--- a/actionpack/test/fixtures/layouts/standard.html.erb
+++ b/actionpack/test/fixtures/layouts/standard.html.erb
@@ -1 +1 @@
-<html><%= @content_for_layout %><%= @variable_for_layout %></html>
\ No newline at end of file
+<html><%= yield %><%= @variable_for_layout %></html>
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/actionpack/test/fixtures/layouts/talk_from_action.erb b/actionpack/test/fixtures/layouts/talk_from_action.erb
index 187aab07a2..bf53fdb785 100644
--- a/actionpack/test/fixtures/layouts/talk_from_action.erb
+++ b/actionpack/test/fixtures/layouts/talk_from_action.erb
@@ -1,2 +1,2 @@
-<title><%= @title || @content_for_title %></title>
-<%= @content_for_layout -%>
\ No newline at end of file
+<title><%= @title || yield(:title) %></title>
+<%= yield -%>
\ No newline at end of file