Yes, I saw something similar in the streets of Amsterdam - without the buttgates.
Maybe in some places the buttgates are necessary to prevent cetrtain types of horseplay against the occupants during use. In San Francisco, maybe?
They tended to be in the areas with lots of bars and nightlife. The logic is simple - if you don’t have these, guys will go in the most convenient sheltered doorway. (Except for my brother and his army buddies, who had no problem whipping it out and peeing while walking down the street, without even breaking stride…) Some of the smaller alleyways just reek. So- at least give them somewhere.
Public pissoirs have a long tradition in europe; there’s some urban legends about their removal in Paris, and even a comdey movie about how it disrupts life in one neighborhood when the last one is removed, and one fellow has trouble walking his dog because he always used to go on the route…
Plus, open public restrooms are not as common in Europe. We expect that we can pop in and use a public toilet when we have to, and pay toilets are rather rare in North America. They are a lot harder to find in foregn cities, especially a decade or two ago. I remember the one place that used smaller french change (centimes) was some of the pay toilets in Paris Metro stations. However, everyone had an attendant and most were very well kept. Italy was even more fun - the “Turkish” hole-in-the-floor squat toilets, with a length of garden hose to flush them with and no toilet paper.
The funny thing I remember was walking through a square in Amsterdam one night, and a noisy American student-age group was ahead of us. One guy stopped to use that public urinal; a girl in the group went up and peeked over his shoulder and ran off half laughing, half screaming - “Oh my gawd he’s actually peeing! I thought he was being funny!!” Another took his picture (from the back, head turned to smile at the camera).
So there you go - they’re tourist attractions too.