Who started the term 420?

How the Term "420" Was Born

In the early 1970s, a group of high school friends in San Rafael, California, unknowingly planted the seed for one of cannabis culture’s most enduring symbols. Known as the Waldos—a nickname derived from their favorite meeting spot, a wall just outside their school campus—these five teenagers—Steve Capper, Dave Reddix, Jeffrey Noel, Larry Schwartz, and Mark Gravich—used the code “420” to discreetly talk about smoking marijuana.

Their after-school ritual often involved searching for a rumored abandoned cannabis crop near a Coast Guard station. Every day at 4:20 p.m., right after practice, they’d gather at the wall and head out on their quest. Even though they never actually found the plants, their coded phrase stuck—and spread. “420” became their private shorthand, later whispered in hallways and scrawled on notes, eventually escaping their school and entering the wider counterculture lexicon.

What began as a teenage inside joke evolved far beyond their imaginations. Thanks to connections with the Grateful Dead’s social circle—one of the Waldos had a relative who worked with the band—the term gained traction in the 1990s through concerts, fanzines, and word of mouth. By the 2000s, 420 had become a global symbol for cannabis advocacy, celebration, and resistance.

Today, April 20th—4/20—is recognized worldwide as a day to rally for legalization, light up in solidarity, or simply acknowledge cannabis culture. And it all traces back to five curious teens, a wall, and a time—4:20 p.m.—when everything changed.