Popularized in city guides as a neighborhood to stay away from, the Tenderloin is home to many people who wouldn’t want to live anywhere else.

Due to its high rate of drugs and homelessness, tourists often overlook the neighborhood, which is bounded by Market, Van Ness and Geary streets. However, many of those who call it “home,” love it.

“The Tenderloin is one of the most beautiful and vibrant places in the whole city,” said SF State junior Duran Hernandez, 21. “It is incredibly diverse, old, and off-color, - it’s everything San Francisco is supposed to be.”

The Bay Area Women’s and Children’s Center found that many people are raising their children in the neighborhood, as it is home to over 3,500 kids.

According to the Megan’s Law website, the Tenderloin is also home to 137 sex offenders.

“I never dreamt I’d be raising my kid in the inner city,” said Rene Jones-Valentine. “But I’m not a suburban mom, and I love the city.”

While she says that the area has its rough spots, Jones-Valentine sees the neighborhood as a diverse home for her four-year-old daughter, Amelia Rose, who has already gained a great sense of judgment regarding what kind of people to stay away from, and who views the Goodwill on Geary as her favorite toy store.

SF State English graduate student and Tenderloin bartender Carol (who declined to give a last name) thinks the bad hype the Tenderloin gets is unfair.

“[The bad reputation] is mostly to keep out the ‘Marinas’,” she joked. “I think people like to start rumors about other people with alligators on their shirts getting murdered.”

It’s not so much the nightlife that makes Cinema major Hernandez proud to live there as is the history and antiquity of the neighborhood.

“The Tenderloin is one of the oldest areas in San Francisco, and it amazes me to know that I am living in a building that was built almost 100 years ago,” he said.

The neighborhood has seen many changes over the past decade, including the renovation of hotels and the development of housing and children’s programs.

Although the crime rate has fallen since a police station was built on Eddy Street in 1991, the Tenderloin remains to have the biggest drug and homeless problems in the city.

According to the San Francisco Police Department, an average of 13 crimes per week are caught in the neighborhood, with 54 percent of those being drug crimes.

Many residents argue that these problems are not nearly as bad as Hunter’s Point, which has the highest homicide rate, with 29 in 2004.

Historically a rough area, the origins of the name “Tenderloin” are not entirely known, as many stories exist. One in particular is that police officers were paid more to patrol the neighborhood, and thereby able to afford more expensive cuts of meat.

One thing that is certain is the belief of parent’s like Jones-Valentine who have no regrets or qualms raising their children in the Tenderloin.

“People watch out for each other here, this is a real community,” she said.