Portsmouth Square Park

Portsmouth Square is defined by its tiered design featuring red-painted columns and curved, tiled roofs that rise above the surrounding street level. This one-block space is the oldest public plaza in San Francisco, dating back to eighteen thirty-three when it served as the centre of the Mexican settlement of Yerba Buena. It was here in eighteen forty-six that Captain John Berrien Montgomery of the U.S.S. Portsmouth landed and raised the first American flag in the city.