POPOS - San Francisco's Best Kept Secret

Like the skin of an onion, San Francisco has many different layers to unveil.  There are some benefits to living in this city which are obvious: good year-round weather, over 3000 restaurants, a multicultural and ethnically diverse populace, etc. 

But once you live here a while, the lower strata of wonders begin to present itself. One of those wonders, which only locals really know about (and now you), are the POPOS.  The city’s best/worst kept secret.

POPOS, Privately Owned Public Open Spaces, have been around since the late 1950s.  The Crown Zellerbach Building opened in 1959, and was the first International style, architecturally significant skyscraper in San Francisco built after WWII.  The developers created an open space adjacent to the building, and thus the first POPOS was born.   

 The First POPOS at The Crown Zellerbach Building

Even though many call the period between 1965 and 1975 the "Manhattanization" of the city's skyline, there was little commitment to providing open space with the new skyscrapers being rapidly developed.  Some of the more notable projects, such as the TransAmerica Pyramid and the Bank of America Headquarters building, provided plazas as part of their own design, but it was never mandated by the city.

A POPOS Sign indicating public open space.

It wasn’t until 1985 did the Planning Department release their Downtown Plan, “…included a requirement for the inclusion of POPOS in the development plans of hotels and office buildings of a certain scale, and mandates that accessibility and amenities must be taken into account, including requirements as specific as the amount of sunshine a space gets and how well wind is deterred.”

From the SFPOPOS website, “Until the mid-’80s, POPOS were not required, but incentivized as the city rapidly grew. Although on occasion developers would pursue them out of their own volition, the main encouragement came in the form of density bonuses from the city’s Planning Department; the larger the public, open space a developer provided in their building plans, the larger they could proportionately build.”

Bureaucratic language aside what that meant was if you want to build or renovate a tall building in San Francisco the developer must provide some kind of open space by it, next to it, and even on top of it.

The Rooftop POPOS at One Kearny Street.

In fact, some of my favorite POPOS are rooftop respites, such as the one found atop the One Kearny Building, built in 1909.  It is relatively small, but even at 11 stories, you can barely hear the traffic on busy Market Street below, but can get a good view of our main thoroughfare and Twin Peaks. 

My Favorite Rooftop POPOS on top of the 343 Sansome Building

My favorite POPOS is the rooftop space crowing the 13th floor of the 343 Sansome Building.  Opened in 1929, when it was renovated decades later the developers were required to include a space for the public. They must have really embraced the concept of POPOS because whereas most rooftop areas are nicely, and sparsely designed, the roof of 343 Sansome feels less like a public space and more like a private penthouse.

With 68 POPOS sprinkled throughout the downtown area, there is no shortage of little oases to duck in to, or even on top of. 

For a list of SFPOPS, check out this website: https://sfpopos.com/