[just_living]

What kind of people name whole sections of their town for the teenage runaway male prostitutes that roam the streets looking for someone who will give them some food in exchange for "gay" sex, as is the case with the "tenderloin district" in San Francisco?

FYI:
It's called the tenderloin because the cops on that beat got paid extra, it being such a tough beat. So they were able to eat...tenderloin. That's the story, and it's been the story for a lot longer then the hookers have been there.

[Yeti]

Odd that the post should have sat around for a month and then you both post replies the same night...

just_living, you seem to have a kinder historical explanation than the one Bernard Marx offers, though you both have the police factor in common. I'll go with Bernard Marx's, since he can cite a source.

And I'll stick with my assessment of the town: it's an insane asylum.