The Real Origin of 4/20: The Story Almost Nobody Tells Right
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The Real Origin of 4/20: The Story Almost Nobody Tells Right
In this guide
1. The real origin: "The Waldos," fall 1971
The best-documented and most journalistically backed story places the origin at San Rafael High School, in Marin County, California. A group of five friends — Steve Capper, Dave Reddix, Jeffrey Noel, Larry Schwartz, and a fifth member whose last name varies slightly between sources ("Gravich"/"Gravitch") — called themselves "The Waldos," because they used to hang out leaning against a wall at the school.
In the fall of 1971, the Waldos received a map supposedly leading to an abandoned cannabis crop near Point Reyes, planted by a Coast Guard serviceman who could no longer tend it. They'd meet after class, at 4:20 pm, by the campus statue of Louis Pasteur, to go look for it — hence the code "4:20 Louis," which over time got shortened to simply "420." They never actually found the crop, but the term stuck as their internal code word for cannabis.
Journalist Ryan Grim (author of This Is Your Country on Drugs) investigated and confirmed the story by directly interviewing the Waldos themselves, who kept as proof era-stamped letters and a 1970s "420" flag — stored, according to them, in a bank safe deposit box in San Francisco. The first journalistic report on the origin was Steven Hager's for High Times ("420 or Fight," December 1998), after Steve Capper contacted the magazine.
What isn't confirmed as solidly: the name of the Coast Guard member who supposedly planted the crop, and the story that he was tracked down years later by a private detective, appear only in more recent secondary sources — not in the original journalistic reports that verified the rest of the story.
2. How it reached Grateful Dead and the Deadheads
The term didn't stay confined to the five friends because they had a direct connection to the band Grateful Dead. Dave Reddix's older brother, Patrick Reddix, was a close friend of bassist Phil Lesh and worked with one of the musician's side projects; through that relationship, Dave got a job as a roadie with backstage access at shows like those at San Francisco's Winterland Ballroom. On top of that, one of the other Waldos' fathers handled real estate matters for the band. Through those two channels, "420" leaked into Grateful Dead's inner circle and, during the tours of the '70s and '80s, spread among the Deadheads — the traveling community of fans who followed the band from show to show.
3. The jump to mainstream culture via High Times
The jump of "420" from a band-fan subculture to a global phenomenon has a specific date and a specific person behind it.
Journalist Steve Bloom, then on the High Times staff, received a flyer on December 28, 1990, during a Grateful Dead concert at the Oakland Coliseum. It's worth correcting a simplified version that circulates a lot here: according to Bloom himself, that flyer didn't mention the Waldos or the Pasteur statue — in fact, it already contained an incorrect version, claiming "420" was a police code, and cited a different meeting spot (Bolinas Ridge, on Mount Tamalpais). High Times published that flyer in its May 1991 issue, giving the term its first real national exposure. The correct, verified connection to the Waldos wasn't published until the 1998 report.
4. The false myths that keep circulating
With more than five decades of history, "420" has accumulated several urban legends that are worth explicitly debunking:
- "It's the police code for marijuana possession": false. No such code exists in any documented police department. The actual possession offense in California is codified under Health & Safety Code §11357, with no connection whatsoever to the number 420 — this confusion probably comes precisely from the mistaken 1990 flyer mentioned above.
- "It's the number of chemical compounds in cannabis": false. Scientific studies on cannabis chemical composition give figures that vary depending on the source and year — "over 400," "426" in some 2010s counts, and today over 500-560 identified compounds — there has never been an official figure fixed exactly at 420.
- "It comes from a Bob Dylan song": false. The popular theory about "Rainy Day Women #12 & 35" (12×35=420) is pure numerological coincidence with no documented basis, and it's also chronologically impossible as an origin: the song is from 1966, five years before the Waldos coined the term in 1971.
5. Does 4/20 exist in Europe and Spain?
Amsterdam does have a documented tradition of celebrating April 20th, with events like the "420 Smoke-Out" in Vondelpark. In Spain, however, there's no march or event equivalent to the American 4/20 on April 20th. The Global Marijuana March held in Madrid is a separate event, with its own date in May, and shouldn't be confused with the 4/20 tradition.
6. Frequently asked questions
Five students at San Rafael High School (California) who in 1971 coined the term "420" as a code to meet at 4:20 PM and look for an abandoned cannabis crop.
No. It's one of the most repeated myths, probably originating from a mistaken 1990 flyer. The actual drug possession code in California is Health & Safety Code §11357, with no connection to the number 420 at all.
Because two of the Waldos had direct family and work connections to the band (backstage access as a roadie, real estate management for the group), which let the term spread first among Grateful Dead's inner circle and later among their traveling followers, the Deadheads.
The first print publication was a flyer reproduced in High Times magazine in May 1991 — though with an incorrect version of its origin. The real, verified story of the Waldos wasn't published until 1998.
This article is for informational and historical purposes only, about the documented origin of a cultural term. It's not an invitation to use cannabis nor legal advice.
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