"Hmm?" He snags a slice of watermelon for himself before meandering over, honestly appreciating the view.

Not the one out the window.

"Oh, that. You can thank increased safety regulations for that particular gem - in a place as closely packed as San Francisco, it's amazing how quickly real fireplaces can be outlawed with a good campaign slogan and a few scary pictures." There didn't used to be a ban, but a few years before he moved across-country, a fair amount of the Tenderloin had gone up in smoke thanks to an ancient (and, frankly, ill-kept) fireplace. After that, those who defended the charm of a real fire quickly lost out to those who didn't want the same happening in their neighborhood.
"You can still get a fire, it just has an automatic fire suppression system built-in in case it goes longer than you set it for, or the sensors think it's gotten out of control." He spent a long two months wrestling with this machine, trying to make it do better than a candle's worth of flame for longer than ten minutes.

The cursing was very inventive.