tl;dr: 19th-century Paris built ornate public urinals (pissoirs) in response to cholera outbreaks and a ban on public urination, though they became notorious as meeting spots for gay men, prompting police crackdowns. In the US, temperance advocates pushed for public "comfort stations" to eliminate saloons as de facto bathrooms, but Prohibition-era neglect and privatization killed off public facilities. The result: bodily privacy in American cities became a commodity purchased through patronage of hotels, restaurants, and cafes.