Nicknamed "The Waldos" because they always hung out at a school wall, the group consisted of Steve Capper, Dave Reddix, Jeffrey Noel, Larry Schwartz, and Mark Gravich. One day at the wall, a friend came up and told them about a secret marijuana field he'd heard about from his brother-in-law, which piqued the blunt-lovers' interest.
"We would say '4:20 Louis,' that was the original phrase," They said during an appearance on the Brew Ha Ha podcast. They'd take Capper's Chevy Impala and follow the map out to Point Reyes to look for the marijuana field. Eventually, they stopped bothering with the 'Louis' part.
The Waldo's Link to the Grateful Dead
In 1991, a High Times Magazine writer found a flier at a Dead show that claimed the phrase was "a police code for marijuana smoking in progress." They shared the info in a story, and soon 420 became associated not only with weed but also with the Grateful Dead. The Waldos eventually contacted the magazine's editor to set the record straight about their connection to the band.
"He hired me to be a roadie and we were smoking weed backstage with Phil Lesh, David Crosby, Terry Haggerty, and I was using 420," Reddix told the Los Angeles Times. "It filtered through the backstage people and then that filtered into the Grateful Dead community. And that's how it started climbing into the lexicon of the Dead community."
"They needed places to rehearse, places to store their equipment," Reddix said. "They had a whole organization to support, and they needed office space. They would buy homes in the Marin County hills."
Competing 420 Rumors Still Exist
Despite the Waldos repeatedly sharing their story, other origin stories have persisted. One claims that the Grateful Dead singerJerry Garcia died at 4:20 -- he died around 4:23 AM. Another stated that it came from the fact that there are 420 active chemical compounds in cannabis. This was debunked; it actually has at least 500 compounds.
“But 420 is mostly about friendship, family, solidarity and love,” agree Capper and Reddix.
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