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Apr 20, 2019 · According to TIME, the birth of 4/20 dates back to 1971, when a group of five buddies at San Rafael High School in California would all meet near the statue of chemist Louis Pasteur to smoke a...
Apr 19, 2016 · Some note 4/20 is also Adolf Hitler’s birthday. And some go as far as to cite Bob Dylan’s song “Rainy Day Women #12 & 35” because 12 multiplied by 35 equals 420. But, to put it bluntly ...
- 1 min
- Olivia B. Waxman
Apr 19, 2020 · True/False: FALSE April 20 th is Hitler’s birthday, but this is simply coincidental. There is no source that legitimizes a connection between 420 as a cultural term, and Hitler's date of birth.
Apr 19, 2017 · Some have suggested that the date comes from “420” being a code among police officers for “marijuana-smoking in progress,” while others say that there’s a connection to 4/20 being Nazi...
- 1 min
- Olivia B. Waxman
- Overview
- HISTORY Vault: The Marijuana Revolution
420 doesn’t begin with the police, but rather in the 1970s with a group of students in California.
Many don’t know the origins of the "420" reference, but have vague recollections of once-heard tales about its origins. Some believe it’s the number of active chemicals in marijuana, others that it’s based on teatime in Holland. Some reference the birthday of Adolf Hitler (April 20, 1889), and others Bob Dylan’s legendary “Everybody must get stoned” refrain from his hit “Rainy Day Women No. 12 & 35” (12 multiplied by 35 does equal 420).
But in reality, it can all be traced back to a group of five California teens who used to hang out by a wall outside their San Rafael school—a meeting spot that inspired their nickname, “the Waldos.”
How Did Cannabis Become the Most Controversial Plant?
In the fall of 1971, the Waldos learned of a Coast Guard member who had planted a cannabis plant and could no longer tend to the crop. Provided with a treasure map (some say by the plant’s owner himself) supposedly leading to the abandoned product, the group would meet at the Louis Pasteur statue outside their high school at least once a week conduct a search. Their meeting time? 4:20 p.m, after practice (they were all athletes). The Waldos would pile into a car, smoke some pot and scour the nearby Point Reyes Forest for the elusive, free herb. One of the original members of the Waldos, Steve Capper, told the Huffington Post, “We would remind each other in the hallways we were supposed to meet up at 4:20. It originally started out 4:20-Louis, and we eventually dropped the Louis.”
They never did score the free bud, but perhaps they stumbled on to something more lasting? The term 420 was coined, allowing the high schoolers to discuss smoking pot without their parents or teachers knowing.
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In 2003, when the California Legislature codified the medical marijuana law the voters had passed, the bill was named SB 420. No one fessed up to being responsible for the number, but was likely a staffer in California State Assembly Member Mark Leno’s office.
“420” has also been referenced in classic movies like “Pulp Fiction,” where some of the clocks are set to the time 4:20, and on national TV when a contestant on the “Price Is Right” only bid numbers involving 420 ($420, $1,420). Even the 1990s Nickelodeon cartoon “Rocko’s Modern Life” featured a clock reading 4:20.
While many other illicit tales of the origins of 420 have wafted into the half-baked history books, the Waldos have proof they used the word back in the 1970s. Kept safely tucked away in a vault in a San Francisco bank is their original 420 tie-dyed flag, a newspaper clipping where one of the members discusses wanting to just say “420” for his high school graduation speech and postmarked letters between the group filled with 420 references.
What’s next for the Waldos? Two of the original five still prefer to remain anonymous, but have agreed to consider making a documentary, or compiling a dictionary of their slang words. Or maybe they will just continue to enjoy a more mellow blaze of glory.
Apr 20, 2010 · It has something to do with Hitler's birthday. It's those numbers in that Bob Dylan song multiplied. The origin of the term 420, celebrated around the world by pot smokers every April 20, has long been obscured by the clouded memories of the folks who made it a phenomenon.
Apr 16, 2018 · Rumors started that 420 was originally a marijuana-related police code (even though it never was) or that it was somehow tied to Hitler's birthday (What?), but it turns out that there's a...
