Today we feature tunes with a playing time of 4:20.
420, 4:20 or 4/20 (pronounced four-twenty) is cannabis culture slang for marijuana and hashish consumption, especially smoking around the time 4:20 pm (16:20). It also refers to cannabis-oriented celebrations that take place annually on April 20 (4/20 in U.S. and Canadian date form).
In 1971, five high school students in San Rafael, California, used the term “4:20” in connection with a plan to search for an abandoned cannabis crop, based on a treasure map made by the grower. Calling themselves the Waldos, because their typical hang-out spot “was a wall outside the school”, the five students—Steve Capper, Dave Reddix, Jeffrey Noel, Larry Schwartz, and Mark Gravich—designated the Louis Pasteur statue on the grounds of San Rafael High School as their meeting place, and 4:20 pm as their meeting time. The Waldos referred to this plan with the phrase “4:20 Louis”. After several failed attempts to find the crop, the group eventually shortened their phrase to “4:20”, which ultimately evolved into a code-word the teens used to refer to consuming cannabis.
Steven Hager of High Times popularized the story of the Waldos. The first High Times mention of 4:20 smoking and a 4/20 holiday appeared in May 1991 and erroneously attributed the origin of the term to a police code; this and other spurious incorrect origin stories became common. The connection to the Waldos appeared in December 1998. Hager attributed the early spread of the phrase to Grateful Dead followers—after “Waldo” Reddix became a roadie for the Grateful Dead’s bassist, Phil Lesh—and called for 4:20 pm to be the socially accepted time of the day to consume cannabis.
Another San Rafael group claims to have originated the term before the Waldos.
Created in 1989, the reform organization Cannabis Action Network, associated with High Times, is often credited for giving to 420 and the date April 20 marked elements of political and cultural protest, organizing rallies on that date and assisting other groups in setting up other events.
North American observances have been held at many locations, including:
New York City: Washington Square Park in Manhattan
Boston: Boston Common
San Francisco: “Hippie Hill” in Golden Gate Park near the Haight-Ashbury
Santa Cruz: Porter College meadows at the University of California, Santa Cruz
Washington, D.C.: National Mall, United States Capitol
Vancouver: The Vancouver Art Gallery and Sunset Beach between 2016 and 2019.
Montreal: the Mount Royal monument
Denver: Civic Center Park
Ottawa: Parliament Hill and Major’s Hill Park
Edmonton: The Alberta Legislature Building
Boulder: campus of the University of Colorado Boulder
Toronto: Nathan Phillips Square and Yonge-Dundas Square
Berkeley: campus of the University of California, Berkeley on the Memorial Glade north of the Doe Memorial Library.
Mexico City: Mexican Senate under the slogan Planton 420.
Ann Arbor: Hash Bash
St. Louis, Missouri: Loop 420 Fest at Delmar Loop (University City)
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