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.
It Started With a Quest
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…