Tempur-Pedic introduced memory foam mattresses to the US, and Sleep Number offered adjustable beds with inflatable air pockets. Narrator: In the 1990s, new mattress designs hit the market. A lot of bad designs, I think, were kind of the demise of the big volume in waterbeds. And you could lay on them, it was this giant blob, not particularly safe and not particularly comfortable. Hall: $29 bags of vinyl were being sold out of pickup trucks on college campuses and called waterbeds. And even though Charlie Hall had patented his design, this didn't stop other producers from making knockoffs, which were often much less sophisticated. Any time you roll over in a waterbed, it sends waves through the mattress to the other side, which could wake up your sleeping partner or you when the waves come back your way. Narrator: Others didn't like the waves generated by moving around in bed. Hall: Any normal construction can support a waterbed. There were also rumors of waterbeds falling straight through the floor because of how heavy they were, but Charlie says that concern was overblown. Waterbeds, once they're filled with water, can weigh over 2,000 pounds, which makes them nearly impossible to move without draining them. From a practical standpoint, people worried about leaks and weight. He even sold a few to a nudist colony.īy the late '80s, the waterbed industry had reached around $2 billion and accounted for about 12% to 15% of the market in the US. Charlie sold waterbeds to some other notable figures, like one of the Smothers Brothers and Jefferson Airplane. Hugh Hefner had one, according to a 1971 article from Time magazine, king-size, covered with Tasmanian opossum. So a lot of people thought the undulating mattress was pretty groovy.
In the late '60s and early '70s, San Francisco was the heart of the counterculture movement. It was also intended to go inside a hard-sided bed frame to keep the bed from expanding too much laterally. It featured a coil for warming the bed so the water wouldn't get cold, and it was lined to prevent leaks. He called it the "Pleasure Pit." So, so much for avoiding those sexual implications. It was a large mattress filled with water, and it could be used as either a bed or a kind of gathering space that you could have in your living room. Narrator: Needless to say, neither one of those really worked out, but Charlie came up with another design that was a hit. Hall: It was corn starch that was used to thicken cherry pies. Now, before settling on water, Charlie tried to make a chair filled with Jell-O and another with liquid corn starch. In the same way that some people like firm mattresses and others like it soft, it ultimately comes down to personal preference. But research is nonconclusive as to whether or not waterbeds help alleviate aches and pains. So as you move, water fills the gaps, and every curve of your body gets equal support. Narrator: The key concept of the waterbed is displacement. Hall: Famous furniture designers like Eames and Mies van der Rohe and people like that had signature chairs, but I think they were more a sculptural effort, often, than something that really analyzed comfort. His idea was to create furniture that could form to the contours of a person's body without creating pressure points. The waterbed was part of Charlie's thesis project at San Francisco State University. Narrator: That's Charlie Hall, the man who invented the waterbed. Waterbeds, as we know them, were invented in 1968, just after the "Summer of Love."Ĭharlie Hall: A very open, experimental time in San Francisco. They were intended to help people get better sleep. But, believe it or not, waterbeds weren't actually invented to make bedtime bouncier. Narrator: Remember waterbeds? You might not, but they were all the rage in the '70s and '80s, and they kind of developed a reputation as a mattress that was good for, you know, stuff other than sleeping. Girl: Daddy, can I have a waterbed? Please, Daddy, can I have a waterbed? It often indicates a user profile.Īnnouncer: Wouldn't you rather spend your evening in a waterbed? For a limited time, $189.99. Account icon An icon in the shape of a person's head and shoulders.
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