Portsmouth Square - Where the City Began

Portsmouth Square - Where the City Began

Photo: Supercarwaar, CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)

A stop on San Francisco, District by District, a free self-guided tour.

Portsmouth Square is where San Francisco began. It was the plaza of the Mexican village of Yerba Buena, and on July 9, 1846, Captain John B. Montgomery of the USS Portsmouth landed with his men and raised the American flag here. In May 1848 merchant Sam Brannan showed off gold from the American River to a crowd, and the Gold Rush was on. California's first public school opened at the square's edge the same year.

As Chinatown grew up around it, the square became the neighborhood's living room, where elders play cards and Chinese chess and practice tai chi. In June 2026 the city closed the park for a full rebuild expected to last about two years, so view it from Kearny or Clay Street and look for updates on its reopening.

Robert Louis Stevenson spent time here during his 1879 stay, and a memorial to him has long stood on the square.

More on Wikipedia: Portsmouth Square · John B. Montgomery · Samuel Brannan

Stops on this tour

  1. Ferry Building and the Embarcadero - Where the City Met the World
  2. Financial District and Jackson Square - Gold Rush on the Old Shoreline
  3. Chinatown - The Neighborhood That Refused to Move
  4. North Beach and Telegraph Hill - Little Italy and the Beats
  5. Fisherman's Wharf - Italian Boats and Old Ships
  6. Nob Hill and Russian Hill - Cable Cars, Mansions and the Great Fire
  7. The Presidio - Two Centuries Guarding the Golden Gate
  8. Japantown and the Fillmore - Two Communities, One Neighborhood
  9. Haight-Ashbury - From Victorian Suburb to Summer of Love
  10. Golden Gate Park - Sand Dunes Turned Into a Park
  11. The Castro - A Neighborhood That Became a Movement
  12. The Mission - Where San Francisco Began
  13. Civic Center - Domes, Charters and Protest
  14. South of Market - From Rincon Hill to the Tech Boom