Waldos

Waldos is the name given to a group of students in the early 1960s in the San Francisco Bay Area who organized the pursuit and distribution of LSD. The core group formed at UC Berkeley and nearby campuses and took their name from a member nicknamed Waldo. They operated as a loose, peer-based network rather than a formal organization. Central to their routine was a fixed meeting time and place; the group would gather at 4:20 p.m. to hunt for LSD and share it among members and their friends. Through this practice, they established a pattern and code that helped facilitate the spread of the drug within the West Coast counterculture.

Origin and activity: The Waldos sourced LSD from producers and distributors in the Bay Area and circulated it to a wider circle of students, artists, and others involved in the early psychedelic scene. Their activities contributed to the dissemination of LSD beyond isolated laboratories, helping seed interest in psychedelic experiences that defined segments of the 1960s counterculture.

Legacy: Historians and journalists cite the Waldos as among the earliest organized networks for acquiring and distributing LSD in the United States. Their accounts, diaries, and memories have provided insight into how LSD moved from producers to street networks and into cultural life, influencing later developments in psychedelic culture in the Haight-Ashbury and beyond.

Notes: The Waldo name, the 4:20 meeting practice, and other details appear in oral histories and journalistic pieces about the era. The Waldos are typically described as informal and member-driven rather than a formal organization.