Interesting you mention that. The views were from the Roof Terrace of The Paramount. From there you can see other roof terraces that are supposed to be "Public Places". My friend mentioned that she has had words, on various occasions with officials who didn't understand the meaning of "Public Place" e.g. "you can't just go up there, you need an appointment with someone in the building",
The SPUR guide would make an interesting starting point http://www.spur.org/sites/default/files/migrated/anchors/popos-guide.pdf