Embarcadero Center

"Is this a popos? I think it is! It's a popos and I found it. Let's go up!" We were walking back to the Ferry Building after a walk through North Beach, and I told Mia I was on the lookout for Privately Owned Public Open Spaces to document for, well, the app you're using. She was excited to have discovered one, with staircases leading up from the street level to an elevated, expansive plaza between the buildings of the Embarcadero Center.

The plaza nestles between buildings that you would pass along your way to the Embarcadero and Ferry Building, but from up here you can see the skyline and landmark views, from the Bay Bridge in one direction to the Transamerica Building in the other. There's a cinema and gastropub along the perimeter, and restaurants and shops all around. We were here on a weekend and it was mostly empty, but it's easy to imagine a thriving workday making it hum with activity.

Mia chose a table for us to sit at in the sunshine filtered by plantered trees as we admired her discovery. "You have to say that I found this one," she said. I grunted and reminded her she's not under contract. "Maybe in the fine print," I promised.