Портсмут-сквер: Сердце Чайнатауна в Сан-Франциско

Public park in Chinatown, San Francisco, California

Portsmouth Square , formerly known as Portsmouth Plaza, and originally known as Plaza de Yerba Buena, or simply La Plaza, is a one block plaza in Chinatown, San Francisco, California. Portsmouth Square is the first park in San Francisco, predating both Washington Square (1847) and Union Square (1850). Established in the early 19th century, during the period of Mexican California, the plaza was renamed following the U. S. Conquest of California in honor of the USS Portsmouth, the American ship which captured the city. It is bounded by Kearny Street on the east, Washington Street on the north, Clay Street on the south, and Walter Lum Place on the west.

Portsmouth Square is located on the site of the first public square, The Grand Plaza, established in the early 19th century in the Mexican community of Yerba Buena. The site was first used as a public gathering site in 1833; it was set aside as an official plaza in 1835. Jean Jacques Vioget was commissioned to survey the settlement in 1839, and Vioget imposed a grid of streets centered on the plaza overlooking the cove. near the Mexican adobe custom house. In 1847, the first public school in California was erected at the southwest corner of plaza. The reinforced concrete garage was cast in place with parking floors and ramps designed to bear a load of as required by building codes. When the Holiday Inn (now the Hilton San Francisco Financial District) hotel was designed and constructed in the late 1960s, replacing the old San Francisco Hall of Justice, a pedestrian bridge was added across Kearny to connect the new hotel with the park. On November 18, 1968, Charles Slutzkin of Justice Enterprises (the firm responsible for redeveloping the Hall of Justice site) engaged landscape architect Robert Royston to determine how Portsmouth Square should be modified to accommodate the new bridge; Royston responded in 1970, concluding the existing playground should be enlarged.

Portsmouth Square is known as the "Heart" or "Living Room" of Chinatown. It was also home for a large number of homeless people. San Francisco Board of Supervisors President Aaron Peskin, who represented the area surrounding the park, and Mayor Gavin Newsom have criticized the Department of Recreation and Parks for failing in its upkeep of the park. Regarding these criticisms, the city department has tried to hire additional gardeners and custodians despite budget cuts. Another city department, Public Works, was urged by Newsom to help clean up the park, at least temporarily. The San Francisco Planning Department has initiated the Portsmouth Square Area Project to enhance the space and surrounding streets. A report evaluating the existing conditions and feasibility of updates was completed in December 2014. On October 13, 2020, the Recreation and Park Department announced the schematic design was complete.

A four level underground parking garage is located beneath Portsmouth Square, accommodating an average of 50,000 vehicles per month.

It features many markers and statues. There are three markers registered as California Historical Landmarks, honoring the first raising of the American flag on the square in 1846 (#119, placed 1924), the Eastern Terminus of the Clay Street Hill Railroad Company (#500, 1953), and the 1848 opening of the first public school in California (#587, 1957). The Robert Louis Stevenson Memorial is also located inside the park to commemorate its history, designed by Bruce Porter and Willis Polk, and topped with a bronze galleon sculpted by George Piper. The Stevenson Memorial was erected in 1897. Tot Lot was commissioned by the city and county of San Francisco's Bureau of Architecture and two of the pieces, the ram and rabbit, were gifts of the Tamarack Foundation. The architect's office, Recreation and Parks Department and San Francisco Arts Commission developed the piece. Children use the pieces frequently due to its playground status. In 1994 it was surveyed as part of the Smithsonian Institution's Save Outdoor Sculpture! program in 1994 and was described as needing conservation treatment.

Director Don Siegel filmed a scene from the 1971 movie Dirty Harry in the Square. As the character "Dirty Harry" follows "Scorpio", it is possible to see the stone bridge joining the park to the Chinese Culture Center of San Francisco, at 750 Kearny Street.