It's a crossroads. Near the northern edge of central St Paul, right next to (and named for) Hamline University, the oldest private college in MN. Most of the housing stock is pre-1940, and in good nick. Neighbors include college students, a sprinkling of Somali and Eritrean folks, some Vietnamese and Hmong immigrants, and increasingly, middle-class families (of all persuasions) with small children. Lots of long-term residents here- it's not all transient. A fair representation of artists, artisans, and musicians, too.
(I guess I fit in that group, as does my wife.) Rents and housing prices are still reasonable for the region.
It's a fairly low crime area for an inner city neighborhood with a significant minority and lower-income component. My introduction to Minnesota Nice, I suppose.
Overall, it's safer than the areas of San Francisco, Berkeley, or Oakland I lived in while at college in the 1980s. Several of the surrounding areas can get pretty dicey at times, but nothing like North Minneapolis, and worlds away from a place like West Oakland, CA.