Dirt Nap City

What Was A Waterbed? A Dirt Nap City Dead End

• Dirt Nap City • Season 3 • Episode 43

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There's nothing more 1970's than the mustache, the Camaro, and the waterbed. If you grew up in the 1970's or 1980's, you probably knew someone with at least on those things. In this episode, we take a look at the origin of the waterbed, it's rise in popularity, and what eventually killed it. Yes, you can still get a waterbed today - but if you really want to GET waterbeds, then you need to listen to this Dirt Nap City Dead End!

Dirt Nap City Dead Ends are short stories about the traditions, sayings, technologies, and businesses that used to be popular but now reside in Dirt Nap City.  If you have an idea for a Dirt Nap City Dead End story, drop us a line at our email address: not@dirtnapcity.com

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Kelly:

Alex, you ever been driving down a road on your way somewhere and you're trying to get there, you turn left, you turn right. And then all of a sudden there's nowhere to go.

Alex:

That's a dead end. Yes,

Kelly:

yes. And this is also a dead end. Now a dead end. In the case of dirt nap City is a something that people used to do, but they don't do anymore. And we haven't gone very far back in time with this one. Because this one's kind of a kind of a modern ish. Dead end. But I want to ask knee of the sea? Yeah, like the ocean? Sure. Yeah. Well, you know, back in the 1800s, there was a guy called the hydrostatic bed. And it was actually not about sailors dreaming of the sea or or was designed to prevent bedsores. And it was kind of like Gnosis the 18 hundred's it's kind of like top. And water was cold. And they used it for a lot of medical purposes, but it was never really years to 1988. And then this student named Charlie Hall in San Francisco, he was a design student. He furniture fillings, and he decided to fill a mattress with water for his master thesis. This class and it got to be legendary will actually patented the waterbed in 1971. And it grew like the.com days in the in the 90s and 2000s. This was the water waterbed days. I mean, did you

Alex:

lived with a guy who, we had a house and his water. He had a king sized water bed. And did he mattress is all I had. I don't even know if I had a boxspring I just had a mattress. He had this wasn't been safe for him to put the water bed like the way the elevation was. So he had to live in and that's all it was was just a bed. This is like a children's room. And then I with my twin bedroom. Yeah, it was huge. was kind of one of them. That one. Well, did I I mean, it was it was without anything to fill. It is just a big empty room. But yeah, that's my memories of water beds just be the bed. But yeah, water beds are. I've never actually slept in one. I don't

Kelly:

think I was about to ask you if you ever had Did you? Did you at least lie in it? Just Oh

Alex:

It was like Yeah, and it made me nauseous. Yeah, yeah. So

Kelly:

I had a friend growing up named Matt and Matt actually had a waterbed like a queen size know, this family had five, six kids, and several of the kids shared shared rooms. Well, he shared two of them shared a room, and they slept in this water bed together. And this was in like, eighth you ever know map frames? Shout out. Yeah, shout out to map frames. Anyway, he had a waterbed. And want to say I might have, like his brother was gone. And I think we did a sleepover at his house. Like every time one person moved, it would kind of move. And you're right with regard to Part of the Because that's a lot of water. And so if if you don't have a perfectly flat surface for it, and a foundation, you know, you don't want to put these things on the second floor. As a matter of fact, House I think California is one of them. You can't actually have a water bed, like in a rental house

Alex:

Yeah, imagine being in the top floor of like, an apartment or a condo or you're sharing springs a leak. I mean, that's that was Yeah. Or not that probably hundreds of gallons of water,

Kelly:

Yeah. Yeah. Well, they were very, very popular in the 80s. And I have to say, again, my of the things he was really proud of was the fact that he had this waterbed. And he talked about a ended up in the waterbed, but I don't really think that happened. I think that was just him talking. control that you had to account for. So I think it had a heater to keep the water a little bit water beds, were actually up there with refrigerators in terms of something that would bed, and you were using this heater, it was very inefficient to heat all that water up into keep it know, your refrigerator is generally your air conditioner, your refrigerator, your two biggest So there was a cost associated with it.

Alex:

When they marketed these things, were they marketed like for sex, or with they marketed where better good for your back or you're good. So part of the appeal, though,

Kelly:

I think it depended on who they were marketing to, of course, but yeah, I mean, that about was was, and again, I don't really think he had a whole lot of experience in that department.

Alex:

shout out again, shout out.

Kelly:

No, no, there were different types of waterbeds. But yes, I think some were supposed to support for you. There was the free flow waterbed, where the water just kind of slashed around. There that one, I think had little channels in it so that the water sloshing around but not randomly, hard sides. There was a waveless waterbed that had little baffles in it that kept the water from from even some clear water beds with with lights in them. They know

Alex:

what I don't understand the waveless one explain that to me. And

Kelly:

so the waveless waterbed had it wasn't just one big chamber. It had these lots of baffles in like sponges throughout the thing that would that would block the water from sloshing around.

Alex:

Then what what's the point? What are you feeling then?

Kelly:

So that so that you still get the support of the water, but if you're sleeping with you know, because because in my buddy Matt's bed, like I said, I believe I might have been the only don't know for sure. Besides his bright besides his brother, that bed. When you rolled over in it, in his room, because he was one of the first people to actually have a CD player on our street.

Alex:

Oh, shout out to another episode of yeah, go back

Kelly:

and listen to our dead ends. Anyway, the waterbed is something that kind of started losing you don't get anything more 70s than the waterbed. You know, moustache, a Camaro, and a waterbed. And things ever. But I'll tell you what actually killed the waterbed. More than anything else do TempurPedic memory foam? Yeah, yeah, memory foam was was one of those things that all of a sudden because memory foam I think does feel a lot like water. It kind of curves with your body versus memory foam with the boxspring too but it's a different vibe than than a water bed. Now what

Alex:

Casper? Shout out to Casper if you want to want us to read a casper ad read about now this

Kelly:

when they do sponsor they do sponsor a lot of podcasts I believe purple Casper,

Unknown:

Lisa. Lisa Yeah.

Kelly:

So you know there were pillowtop beds. There were the the traditional just spring beds. upstate New York kind of a summer place they go to that gets boarded up for the rest of the year. in there from like the 1940s. And now you know that supposedly, the weight of a mattress after 10 to actually test that because your skins because

Alex:

there's no way that you've, you've shed enough skin for your whole body weight. Come

Kelly:

You know, I'm gonna I'm gonna Google it right now weight of mattress.

Alex:

That's big mattress though that wants you to Okay, wait a

Kelly:

mattress after 10 years. That's what I google. What happens to a mattress after 10 years? will double its weight in 10 years as a result of being filled with dead dust mites and other debts skeptical consumer running for the dust mop.

Alex:

I don't understand that because you have a sheet on your bed 100% of the time. So does it get

Kelly:

I mean, those things are tiny, they're microscopic, they go through the sheet. Unless you They're just going right through that sheet.

Alex:

i There's no way you're telling me that so a 200 pound man sheds 200 pounds of skin through the

Kelly:

do it saying that it saying that it doubles the weight of the mattress of the mattress weighed as

Alex:

I thought you meant it doubled. It's like double your body size. No.

Kelly:

Now here's six signs that you need to replace your mattress. No, you wake up sore. getting worse. It's getting too hot. You have trouble sleeping, or here's the best one. It's mattress counsel. I feel like you're

Alex:

going to send this episode to like mattress mat and get him to try and get him to sponsor

Kelly:

I would love to have mattress Mac sponsor. It's a dead in a couple of good old Houston boys. sleep on a 40 year old mattress? Typically mattress. Manufacturers recommend replacing your Consumer Reports, a mattress is well cared for could last a decade. So

Alex:

well. Here's what my problem though, is that the big mattress will talk out of both sides of you need a new mattress. But what's the first thing when you try to buy a mattress? They'll tell lifetime were they talking about?

Kelly:

Right, right. Well, I guess all of that said, whether you sleep on a TempurPedic or bed. And the water bed was an interesting little bit of little bit of our I don't know, culture kind of thing. Mostly.

Alex:

Yeah, and shout out to Hugh Hefner for who probably owned a lot of waterbeds.

Kelly:

Right, right. Well, that's another episode of dead ends. I did actually, I did actually get repetitive but let's I think this one's actually pretty good. I won't do this every time. undulating dreams your vinyl skin, a sapphire gleam were slumber cradles like a wave and cares sinking sigh a liquid silk embraces Hi. No springs to jar. No mattress Creek. Just gentle sway and

Alex:

That's very, very similar to the CD one. Yeah,

Kelly:

it really is. barred. Alright, man. Well, thanks for joining us. If you have a if you have a reach us Alex? Not

Alex:

at dirt Nope. City and was the guy's name? Matt breams and Matt. Sorry, we're just busted.

Unknown:

Yeah, yes. Yeah. Well,

Kelly:

you know, he did introduce me to the waterbed, but not in the way he thinks he

Alex:

did. And Matt, if you still have a waterbed, please send us a picture.

Kelly:

Yes, with your clothes on

People on this episode

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Alex Milam

Host
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Kelly Shores

Host