Sleep with Larry Miller

The Los Angeles Times invited their readers to vote for the very best of Southern California in their first annual “Readers’ Choice Awards.” Guess who they chose for best mattress store?

Recently, Sit ‘n Sleep donated some beds to the Make-A-Wish Foundation’s “wish children” whose wish was to receive a new bed. They thanked us with a very nice letter.

This month, Los Angles Magazine wrote a feature story on me and we talked about the history of Sit ‘n Sleep, how we’ve persevered during hard times and our TV and radio ads.

Carl from Van Nuys recently wrote me asking about my favorite places to hang out in Los Angeles. Well, being a Southern California native there are lots of places that I love—from Palm Springs and Ventura down to San Diego. But my favorite place to hang out would have to be the beach. I make it a point to get to the beach almost every weekend, whether it’s taking a walk on the sand alone or meeting friends for a meal at a beachside restaurant.

Another favorite thing to do is go to sporting events. The Lakers are a true passion of mine and I’ll only miss a game if I’m out of town or sick.

I went on a trip to Japan in the late 1970’s and one night I ended up sleeping on something called a Futon. I’d never heard of one or seen one before. It was a soft mattress on a frame that you could use as a bed and then adjust to become a small sofa.

At the time I thought that was pretty neat.

I got back to California and the miniseries “Shogun” about Japanese warriors was a big hit, Americans were starting to eat sushi … so I figured maybe they’ll sleep on this bed/chair thing from Japan. At the time there were only two other places in all of Los Angeles where you could even find a Futon…

At the time there were only two other places in all of Los Angeles where you could even find a Futon. One was a tiny store in an area called Little Tokyo and the other was an even smaller store in a predominantly Japanese area of west Los Angeles. So I went ahead and imported a Futon from Japan and had the mattress part copied. But I had an impossible time finding anyone who could make the adjustable frame. Finally after many frustrating calls and trips everywhere I found someone who could make the frame…in Brazil!

Meanwhile, my dad (who was also my business partner) thought I was completely nuts. He told me, “Nobody is going to sleep on that bag of cotton!”