Whether you partake in "420" or you just happen to be a fan of the many hilarious 420 memes that spread on that day, it's hard to ignore its cultural influence. While it seems like a term that would've been coined by hippies in the 1960s, it was actually five San Rafael High School students who unwittingly began the number's weed association in 1971.
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.
The Waldos received a map with directions to find the hidden Point Reyes garden. Because they all had different after-school activities, they had to figure out a time and place to meet so they could go search for it. Football or study hall lasted about an hour, so they decided to meet at the Louis Pasteur statue on campus at 4:20 PM.
"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.
"We kept looking week after week, and after a couple of weeks, we'd shorten it," they added. "We'd just smile at each other and go, '420.' And we knew, okay, we were meeting at Louis at 4:20. Then, we started using 420 to talk about anything related to getting high."
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.
According to Reddix, his older brother, Pat, was a good friend of Phil Lesh, who became the Grateful Dead's bass player. Pat even managed some of Lesh's other bands, like Seastones and Touloos Ta Truck.
"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."
He wasn't the only Waldo with a connection to the legendary band, though. Gravich's father also helped with their "real estate needs."
"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."
Thanks to Gravich's dad, the Waldos were often added to the guest list for the Grateful Dead's shows. "We'd be backstage with them, and we'd be using the term," Reddix added. "We’d pass them a joint and use the term '420.'"
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.
There's even a myth that points to Bob Dylan's "Rainy Day Women #12 and #35," because 12 multiplied by 35 equals 420. The Waldos aren't bothered, as their website includes documents as proof of their claims. Now in their late 60s, the term still stands for 420 to the five friends, but it's expanded over the years.
“But 420 is mostly about friendship, family, solidarity and love,” agree Capper and Reddix.
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