420 from k9sound on Vimeo.

Appeal pal K9sound sends in this video taken yesterday in Golden Gate Park’s “Hippie Hill.” “Proponents and one dissenter converge,” K9sound says “on Hippie Hill to commemorate the herbal stalk” at 4:20 PM on 4/20/2011.

According to CBS5, “There are many myths behind the origins of the phrase 420 as slang for marijuana.”

According to High Times magazine, 420 originated in 1971 by a group of students, known as “the Waldos,” at San Rafael High School.

The magazine said the Waldos coined the term because they would get together after school at 4:20 p.m. to smoke marijuana, and they could openly talk about 420 without anyone knowing what it meant.

It’s probably safe to say that no one at Hippie Hill needs subterfuge to discuss smoking cannabis, at 4:20 on 4/20 or on any other day.

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the author

Eve Batey is the editor and publisher of the San Francisco Appeal. She used to be the San Francisco Chronicle's Deputy Managing Editor for Online, and started at the Chronicle as their blogging and interactive editor. Before that, she was a co-founding writer and the lead editor of SFist. She's been in the city since 1997, presently living in the Outer Sunset with her husband, cat, and dog. You can reach Eve at eve@sfappeal.com.

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