420's origins: A treasure hunt, secret code and dueling legends
It's largely agreed upon that the Bay Area coined the phrase 420, but the actual canon for the holiday remains disputed.
The intrigue: The most well-known version of the story traces its roots back to a group named the Waldos who came up with the slang term in 1971 while they were students at San Rafael High School in Marin County.
Flashback: The five teenagers regularly embarked on what they called "Waldo Safari" trips, but the goal for one particular excursion was to find a cannabis patch.
A friend's brother — a U.S. Coast Guard member at Point Reyes — had been growing the crop but got paranoid that they would get busted and abandoned the patch.
He was kind enough, however, to draw a map for the teens.
Zoom in: The group decided to meet after school at 4:20pm — mostly because some of them had study hall or practices — and get high before driving out to Point Reyes in search of the patch.
Though they never found it, 420 stuck around as a code for both marijuana and the after school meet-up. That way, teachers, parents and police officers wouldn't catch on.
Soon, the phrase began catching on among the rock band Grateful Dead and its Deadheads community, and from there, it took off.
"We were the Forrest Gump of weed," Steve Capper said in an interview with KTVU last year.
Yes, but: Other people have disputed the Waldos' story.
The Beebs, another group of friends who went to school with the Waldos, claim that their ringleader came up with the phrase in 1970 as he was smoking from a homemade bamboo bong.
Their account is much more simple, which they say lends more credibility. Two of the Beebs were smoking together one afternoon when they pointed at the clock, noted the time and said, "We should do this every day at 4:20."
The Waldos "didn't start 420, but they did a great job to promote 420," Beebs ringleader Brad Bann said in a 2023 short documentary.
The big picture: Regardless of who invented the phrase, it became a mainstay in the Bay Area as a celebration of cannabis, the counterculture and San Francisco's role in spearheading legalization efforts.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Yahoo
Coming Sunday and Monday
060525 jw horse trainer Santa Fe horse trainer and racing enthusiast Tony Martinez talks about his days working at the Santa Fe Downs in the 1970s recalling the names of horses and jockeys from that era as his wife his wife Lou Martinez fills in gaps during an interview at their home on Thursday, June 6, 2025. Santa Feans remember The Downs Thousands of people gathered at The Downs at Santa Fe as the Grateful Dead stunned a Santa Fe crowd. The afternoon of the legendary concert on Sept. 10, 1983 — one of two shows the Dead performed that weekend — was tempestuous. A prolonged desert shower forced the band to pause. Then a rainbow appeared across the property, viewed as something transcendent by the band's rambling and loyal disciples. "There was this glorious revelation. The sun came out and the Dead came back on," said Don Usner. The show came amid The Downs' heyday, when it doubled as a popular racetrack and entertainment venue southwest of Santa Fe. The old grandstand, sitting vacant along Interstate 25 in La Cienega for the better part of 25 years, recently was demolished, making memories flow for local Deadheads of a certain age. Deadheads aren't the only ones with fond memories of The Downs. A former horse trainer, 83-year-old Tony Martinez has almost perfect recall for races run there. "We had some really, really good times at The Downs," Tony Martinez added. "We really, really miss it. It just gets into your blood." He is one of many longtime local patrons of The Downs who lament its demise and now its disappearance. The faded grandstand has been demolished, toppled in the last few weeks to make way for redevelopment plans by property owner Pojoaque Pueblo. 060525 jw fire train Darvi Soto, left, Andres Davis-Martinez Brandy Huerta and Eddie Mendoza from Station 7 don their gear before a training exercise that closely resembled an escape room challenge in full turnout gear on Thursday, June 5, 2025 at the Santa Fe fire training facility on Siler Road. Recently, the Santa Fe police and fire departments have made significant progress in reducing their vacancy rates. Santa Fe makes progress on police, fire vacancies Although vacancies in the Santa Fe police and fire departments have long been a stubborn problem, the city appears to be making progress on tackling it. The fire department has 10 vacancies currently but is in the process of hiring several new firefighters, which will leave it with four vacancies in its frontline operations division after July 22. The police department has 13 vacancies out of 169 sworn officer positions, but two new officers are expected to join the force June 21, leaving it with 11, Deputy Chief Ben Valdez said. That's down from 38 vacancies in July 2022. "We have a better story than we've had in quite some time," Valdez said. "These are rates that we have not had, I'd say, in at least 10 years for police officers." 060525_MS_Food Depot_003.JPG Bob Wolf, a volunteer at the Food Depot, prepares bags of groceries during a food distribution effort at the Food Depot on Siler Road on June 5, 2025. Local nonprofits face funding cuts Twenty-six trucks were supposed to deliver groceries to The Food Depot between April and December of 2025. Two weeks before the first truck was scheduled to arrive, staff at the Santa Fe food bank learned the food — a mix of expensive and tough-to-source groceries like yogurt, milk, chicken and produce — wasn't coming after all, Executive Director Jill Dixon said. The goods were from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Emergency Food Assistance Program, which in March was hit with $500 million in funding cuts. It's a common story for New Mexico nonprofits these days. A new report commissioned by the Thornburg Foundation, Anchorum Health Foundation and Santa Fe Community Foundation surveyed more than 200 nonprofits across the state, finding "federal funding cuts may disproportionately affect New Mexico." Some $1.1 billion in grants has been awarded to the surveyed New Mexico nonprofits with only about half paid out so far. The other half of that money can be — and in some cases, has been — clawed back, all while philanthropic funders are likely to see a surge of funding requests and steep competition for private dollars. Read it all at
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Yahoo
Tom Hanks Is 'Not Surprised' About His Daughter's Memoir That Alleges Her Mom Samantha Lewes Was Emotionally and Physically Abusive
Tom Hanks is speaking out for the first time following the release of his daughter E.A. Hanks' memoir, The 10: A Memoir of Family and the Open Road, which alleges that her mom was emotionally and physically abusive "I'm not surprised that my daughter had the wherewithal as well as the curiosity to examine this thing," he explained to Access Hollywood recently E.A. Hanks' memoir was released on April 8 and examines her childhoodTom Hanks is sharing how he really feels about his daughter E.A. Hanks' memoir, The 10: A Memoir of Family and the Open Road — and the claims it brings forth that her mom, actress Samantha Lewes, was emotionally and physically abusive. The Forrest Gump star, 68, addressed the abuse allegations E.A.'s book — which was published April 8 — during a conversation with Access Hollywood on Wednesday, May 26, at the red carpet premiere of his new film, The Phoenician Scheme. 'I'm not surprised that my daughter had the wherewithal as well as the curiosity to examine this thing that I think she was incredibly honest about,' Hanks told the outlet. 'We all come from checkered, cracked lives, all of us.' 'She's a knockout, always has been,' he continued. 'If you've had kids, you realize that you see who they are when they're about 6 weeks old.' In the memoir, E.A., whose real name is Elizabeth Anne, details experiencing "emotional violence" and "physical violence" from her mother, whose real name Susan Dillingham, after her parents' divorce. Hanks and Dillingham tied the knot in January 1978, and their divorce was finalized in 1987. Dillingham got primary custody, and the kids had designated weekend and summer visits with Hanks. "I would visit my dad and stepmother (and soon enough my younger half brothers) on the weekends and during summers, but from 5 to 14, years filled with confusion, violence, deprivation, and love," E.A., 43, wrote in an excerpt previously obtained by PEOPLE. She added, "As the years went on, the backyard became so full of dog s--- that you couldn't walk around it, the house stank of smoke. The fridge was bare or full of expired food more often than not, and my mother spent more and more time in her big four-poster bed, poring over the Bible." E.A. said she moved to Los Angeles after her mother's alleged abuse took a turn for the worse. "One night, her emotional violence became physical violence, and in the aftermath I moved to Los Angeles, right smack in the middle of the seventh grade. My custody arrangement basically switched — now I lived in L.A. and visited Sacramento on the weekends and in the summer." Never miss a story — sign up for to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. She said during her senior year of high school, her mother called to tell her she was dying. Though her mother was never diagnosed, E.A. believes Dillingham was bipolar with episodes of extreme paranoia and delusion. Hanks' latest film, The Phoenician Scheme, centers around a wealthy businessman Zsa-zsa Korda (played by Benicio Del Toro), who "appoints his only daughter, a nun, as sole heir to his estate. As Korda embarks on a new enterprise, they soon become the target of scheming tycoons, foreign terrorists and determined assassins,' per IMDb. Hanks plays Korda's business associate, Leland. The film also stars Mia Threapleton, Michael Cera, Willem Dafoe, Bill Murray, Scarlett Johansson and more. It was released in limited theaters on May 30 and will see a wide release June 6. Read the original article on People
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Yahoo
Who Was Tom Hanks' First Wife? All About Samantha Lewes, Who Welcomed 2 Children with the Actor
Tom Hanks, who is now married to Rita Wilson, wed Samantha Lewes in 1978 The Forrest Gump actor and Lewes welcomed two kids before they finalized their divorce in 1987 Their daughter, E.A., claimed in her 2025 memoir that Lewes was abusiveBefore Tom Hanks' love story with Rita Wilson began, he was married to his first wife, Samantha Lewes. The former couple wed in 1978 and welcomed two children together, daughter E.A. and son Colin, before finalizing their divorce in 1987. Lewes eventually died in 2002, and years later, E.A. claimed in her 2025 memoir, The 10: A Memoir of Family and the Open Road, that her late mother (whose real name was Susan Dillingham) was emotionally and physically abusive. In May 2025, the Forrest Gump star addressed the allegations made by his daughter during an interview with Access Hollywood. 'I'm not surprised that my daughter had the wherewithal as well as the curiosity to examine this thing that I think she was incredibly honest about,' Hanks said. 'We all come from checkered, cracked lives, all of us.' So who was Tom Hanks' first wife? Here's everything to know about Samantha Lewes and her relationship with the actor. Like Hanks, Lewes was also an actress. She appeared in a 1981 episode of Hanks' ABC sitcom Bosom Buddies, as well as 1984's Mr. Success. Off-screen, she enjoyed Shakespeare and poetry, according to E.A.'s memoir. The former couple met and fell in love while they were both students at California State University, Sacramento in the mid '70s. During a 1994 conversation with Interview Magazine, Hanks opened up about his path to the school, saying it was the "only institute of higher education that I could get into where you could do plays." "I stage-managed shows, was a carpenter for shows and acted in them," he said. "Also I started hanging out in a place attached to the theater called the Green Room in Sacramento, where everybody had an entrance, everybody was a star. It was a great mix of people." After sparking a romance in college, Hanks and Lewes wed in January 1978. However, they went their separate ways in 1985, finalizing their divorce two years later in 1987. Hanks began dating Wilson in 1986. The pair then got married in April 1988, going on to celebrate their 37th wedding anniversary in April 2025. Hanks, who is a father of four, welcomed two children with Lewes: son Colin and daughter E.A., whose real name is Elizabeth Anne. Colin was born on Nov. 24, 1977, and has gone on to follow in his parents' footsteps as an actor. Meanwhile, Elizabeth, born on May 17, 1982, appeared as an extra in Forrest Gump and That Thing You Do! alongside her dad before going on to become a writer under the name E.A. After Hanks and Lewes divorced, Lewes got primary custody of E.A. and Colin. While at first Hanks had designated weekend and summer visits with his children, Lewes suddenly moved them from Los Angeles to Sacramento, Calif., without notice. 'My dad came to pick us up from school and we're not there,' E.A. wrote in her memoir. 'And it turns out we haven't been there for two weeks and he has to track us down." Hanks later welcomed Chester "Chet" Marlon and Truman Theodore with Wilson. In 2002, Lewes died from lung cancer at age 49. Before her death, she was allegedly a troubled woman who struggled with mental illness and addiction. In her memoir, E.A. claims this might have stemmed from Lewes potentially witnessing her own father "rape, murder and cannibalize" a young girl, after E.A. read about the alleged incident in one of her late mother's journals. 'If any part of the red journal is true, where I read about my grandfather raping and murdering, then my mother never stood a chance," E.A. wrote, later sharing that she never was able to "prove conclusively what he did or didn't do." After Lewes relocated with her children to Sacramento, E.A. says her mental health began to decline. Although she was never formally diagnosed, E.A. believes Lewes may have experienced bipolar disorder, marked by episodes of extreme paranoia and delusions, which became more frequent as time went on. 'The screaming was scarier,' she recalled. 'The food was more inconsistent. The degree to which she would pray and speak to God out loud — she used to be able to keep it together in public. That went very quickly.' In her memoir, E.A. shared that her childhood was marked with "confusion, violence, deprivation, and love," revealing that her mother's emotional abuse turned physical. When she was 14, E.A. was struck in the face by Lewes, leading Hanks to eventually gain primary custody of her. Moving forward, E.A. spent time with Lewes during summer visits. Ahead of the memoir's release, E.A. told PEOPLE that she leaned on her brother Colin for support during some of the difficult times with her mother. 'There's this galvanizing incident between my mother and I that was like a line had been crossed in a way that not even I could cover for her anymore,' E.A. recalled. 'And in the glaring reality of who she was and how bad the situation was getting, the only person I could turn to was the only other veteran of that war, which was Colin." If you suspect child abuse, call the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-4-A-Child or 1-800-422-4453, or go to All calls are toll-free and confidential. The hotline is available 24/7 in more than 170 languages. Read the original article on People
