Arts and CultureSan Francisco

Spray: Turning 4/20 at Hippie Hill into an Instant Community

The Bay's best newsletter for underground events & news

This post is sponsored by the fine people at Spray. Wanna sponsor a post? Email Alex@BrokeAssStuart.com

hippie-hill

Over 10,000 people descended on Hippie Hill this year for one of San Francisco’s favorite holidays, 4/20. From mid morning until dusk, they shared munchies, hawked their cottage cannabis goods and smoked what must have been more than a metric ton of weed.

The warm, mellow and open cult of Mary Jane kicked off San Francisco’s summer calendar not with a bang, but with a glass-eyed giggle and a few high-flying ideas. One of the finest was Spray, a brand new mobile messenger service that connects people within a limited time and space.

Spray is a free hyper local mobile messenger that connects everyone within a 1,000 ft. radius in real time. Without knowing profiles, names, phone numbers social media, anyone can Spray a message, photo or video publicly and everyone can respond. It added a 5th dimension to Hippy Hill last Monday.

By 4:21 p.m., the giggling tribe of stoners had the collective munchies. There were BBQ grills, taco stands, and every kind of baked good imaginable. The most mouthwatering Spray of the day was a photo of a barbecue platter titled “come & get it”. It was piled high with tangy ribs, drumsticks, sausages and a fat dollop of potato salad. I casually and lethargically plodded over to the stand and picked up the best BBQ I’ve had in my life (sorry dad).

To cure the cottonmouth, the people at Spray were giving away a thousand water bottles and encouraging attendees to stay hydrated and download Spray add to the fun. The promotion was obvious, but the intentions were pure last Monday. Equalize community and communication.

Have a great idea that you’ve just gotta share with someone, but you don’t know who to tell? Or how to get the words out? Spray it, and see who gets back to you. With so many people concentrated in such a tight space, Spray created a real time public forum for everyone to get to know each other from the comfort of their blankets and lawn chairs.

Previous post

Ask a Grown Up: Oops, I Fucked My Roommate!

Next post

Stuber Cab Confessions: Driving Drunks People Where They Wanna Go


Broke-Ass Stuart - Editor In Cheap

Broke-Ass Stuart - Editor In Cheap

Stuart Schuffman, aka Broke-Ass Stuart, is a travel writer, poet, TV host, activist, and general shit-stirrer. His website BrokeAssStuart.com is one of the most influential arts & culture sites in the San Francisco Bay Area and his freelance writing has been featured in Lonely Planet, Conde Nast Traveler, The Bold Italic, Geek.com and too many other outlets to remember. His weekly column, Broke-Ass City, appears every other Thursday in the San Francisco Examiner. Stuart’s writing has been translated into four languages. In 2011 Stuart created and hosted the travel show Young, Broke, and Beautiful on IFC and in 2015 he ran for Mayor of San Francisco and got nearly 20k votes.

He's been called "an Underground legend": SF Chronicle, "an SF cult hero":SF Bay Guardian, and "the chief of cheap": Time Out New York.