Dear editors:
I am writing to share the incredible story or at least part of it of native Tucsonan who was previously known as Jack Grace but is now gaining quite a bit of notoriety as big papa hundo The modern answer to wavy gravy. Grace is a 20-year friend of the famous MC of Woodstock countercultural icon wavy gravy. Jack attended school in Tucson Arizona. He graduated from the Gregory School, and attended college at the University of Arizona working at the Moon smoke shop in 1994. Thomas hardman who was tragically killed during the robberies at the Moon smoke shop was hired after Grace left Tucson to move to a town with a smaller population called Las Vegas. Grace adopted a son and took on a family though he was only 20 years old. He had an entirely spectacular career in the fire and life safety industry where he was serving every major resort in Las Vegas, was the president of the international kitchen exhaust cleaning association which is the not-for-profit trade association overseeing the entire industry. He spoke before the international Fire code council, coached and trained fire inspectors and authorities all over the United States. His work in protecting life and property, educating fire inspectors, and finding issues in buildings that could have resulted in significant risk, think a major hospital during the middle of COVID, from every resort in Las Vegas to the tallest building in the United States, freedom Tower One world trade, Jack Grace was there. Jack grace serviced The Nevada nuclear test site, as well as high profile extremely hazardous environments at heights, with high pressure equipment, highly caustic chemicals, and generally by bicycle through times Square at 3:00 in the morning. What was hidden from sight the entire time was his countercultural activist activities and work in Humboldt County California. Jack was a marijuana legalization advocate and freedom fighter, an active part of the network to educate teach and share the knowledge of the medication that comes from marijuana. As a result of many years in the fire prevention industry and a whole host of really tragic events, Jack Grace found himself unable to walk and dying. The asbestos is a common killer of those in the fire protection industry, and those who bravely and silently protected the lives and property of some of the most iconic buildings in the United States at 3:00 in the morning. That was a fact of life. While Jack was building a business from a $2,000,000 a year operation to an 8 million dollar a year service giant in Las Vegas, a 15-year career that changed the kitchen exhaust cleaning industry and helped to improve the lives of all of those who work in the industry, Jack went on to join the largest international organization that provides exhaust cleaning services. He had over 300 flights in one year traveling to every city climbing on every rooftop and working hand in hand with the individuals who perform the work at 3:00 a.m. he was a champion for the people and always made sure to bring everyone along with him when success was the destination. Having learned very early in life the positive healing effects of marijuana on the physical and mental ailments that plagued him, he continued his work in activism and advocating for change. He became a medical marijuana patient when Nevada finally allowed for medical marijuana. It was always a beneficial part of his identity but Grace is very clear in stating that when a person is on the job all they need to be on is the job. Grace maintains that marijuana has no place in high risk careers but he does feel that In the same way that a person could go home after operating a crane and have a beer that they should be able to choose if they want to smoke a joint or not. He is a strong advocate for free will and free choice and teaching people about what their choices are and how their potential choices may affect them. In 2022 Grace was living in New York City right off of times Square at 53rd Street between 8th and 9th Avenue on the 5th floor of a five-floor walk-up. That means no elevator and lots of stairs. He lived entirely by foot bicycle and subway during his 2 years in Manhattan servicing some of the most iconic buildings in the world by bicycle. He insists that while he was completely focused and had both feet on the ground at work that he felt that there was absolutely no harm in enjoying a joint while walking through Central Park after a hard day's work. Unfortunately late in 2022 Grace's health had declined and he was losing the ability to walk. At this same time his octogenarian parents in Tucson Arizona who lived in the same home that they had moved into with him the year he was born, 1974, had also expressed some health challenges and Jack brace returned to Tucson Arizona to be with his parents as he prepared to live out the rest of his days. Over the course of the next year Jack lost the ability to walk. He tried everything with the medical system and nothing was working. Recognizing that he knew in his heart that he could be saved by the very plant that he had fought to legalize and normalize and destigmatize. He stopped all other medication and switch to Rick Simpson oil, a highly concentrated extract of the cannabis plant that has been reported to have incredible medicinal properties. Grace regained the ability to walk. He continued to have struggles with PTSD and mental health, but with safe access to his medication he was able to regain the ability to function and had accepted job at a Tucson Arizona dispensary. For 8 months Grace served patients at a local medical marijuana licensed facility with incredibly spectacular reviews. He never had any issue with any patients or customers and loved his life taking care of his parents and working for the dispensary. On August 28th 2025 Grace was working at the local dispensary in Tucson Arizona and after close of the business he was approached by his manager. Grace expressed that he was highly stressed out having an active panic attack and starting to have a PTSD incident. The manager became very aggressive towards him accusing him of not checking out with another employee before going to the bathroom. Grace again implored the manager to please have the conversation with him the next day as he was having a panic attack in PTSD. The manager told him that he was going to get him fired and that it was a big deal and that we were going to talk about it right now. Grace proceeded to have a medical incident in which he had a full-blown PTSD attack did not know where he was thought he was being kicked in the head and repeatedly called a homosexual slur as he had been when he was beaten in New York City. Grace fled the building screaming and proceeded to drive into the desert where he abandoned his car and climbed a mountain with the intent to commit suicide. Luckily by the grace of God at some point in his climb he remembered his beautiful daughter Miracle Cassidy, he remembered his octogenarian parents, and he called the suicide prevention hotline. He woke the next day not knowing where he was or where his car was. He was bruised and bloody. He contacted the dispensary suggesting that perhaps they should hug it out and talk about it and move on. He was told that the dispensary important people were all on vacation in Hawaii and that he would have to wait until Wednesday. Three Wednesdays later he was still unemployed with no answer from the dispensary. He placed his order for his medication, his life-saving medical marijuana of which he is a patient in the state of Arizona. The dispensary sent a text back saying that his order was being prepared and then sent another text saying that the order would be ready between noon and 1:00. Race arrived at the dispensary where he had worked for 8 months with no incident and was within the hour window to pick up his medication. Though it was 108° outside he was forced to wait across the street for over an hour at which point he was finally told that he was trespassed from the facility he was fired and that he was more than welcome at the other locations. He communicated that he was having a panic attack and that he should not be driving could he please get his medication. He was told absolutely no but please drive to our other locations. This medical marijuana facility told a medical marijuana patient not to take their medication that they had and were selling to recreational patients but refused to sell it to him without any explanation and told him while he was having a panic attack to risk the entire public safety by getting in his vehicle and driving across town to another location. Grace did have a panic attack. Grace did have another PTSD incident. Grace believes this is directly due to the actions of the license medical marijuana facility in Tucson Arizona. Grace met with his octogenarian parents where he was taking care of them in their home of 50 years in Tucson Arizona. After much long and hard debate they determine that the only way for Jack Grace to not die and to not be subject to a state license dispensary playing God over his life and deciding whether or not he lived or died would be to go somewhere where he would not have to worry about safe access to medical marijuana. At 51 years old, Jack Grace, a disabled man with mental conditions PTSD and dying from exposure to fire prevention related illnesses, set out on a 1000 mile drive to raise awareness for safe access for medical marijuana. But that's not really the interesting part, after getting fired and having a medical incident the facility Grace was strong in his resolve to complete the trip that he had planned for his days off that week from the dispensary to go see his friend the MC of Woodstock waving gravy. After discussing this situation with wavy and the hog farm family, Grace explained to the elder statesman of counterculture that it was time for him to come out of the proverbial closet with his activism and putting his good where it does the most. He discussed his plans with wavy and his incredible wife Jahanara who was responsible for running the free kitchen at Woodstock, explaining to them his goal of keeping the flame alive that changed the world. Grace went from Berkeley California at Wavys home to Jack braces previous home of Las Vegas Nevada. It was there that he completed three jumps off of the stratosphere Tower in his vans quote jumpers " as he describes them that he is auctioning off in January 2026 to raise money for Camp winter rainbow the circus and performing arts Camp founded by Wavy Gravy. The disabled survivor showed the world something good by walking everywhere in Las Vegas choosing no vehicle and walking from New York New York to the stratosphere to jump off, planet 13 to remedicate, downtown Vegas to see some old friends, and back again spreading the message of wavy gravy and asking people to watch the film Saint misbehaven. After taking his literal leaps of faith, he returned to Tucson Arizona hoping to hear some sort of word from the dispensary. After 3 weeks of ignoring him, trespassing him, and telling him it was fired with no explanation, Grace and his parents said goodbye and he set out on a thousand mile drive to make it to Northern California. He documented his voyage and trials through his Instagram and occasionally YouTube presence as well as his website Big Papa Hondo.com In a period of less than 6 weeks he gained the following having zero social media whatsoever to having over 14, 000 individuals following his adventure. Upon finally arriving in Humboldt County, a place that for 20 years has been a part of Jacks closeted countercultural activist identity. But you see it was not Jack at all, because Jack had made a decision that he was no longer going to be Jack Grace who was dying. He was now big Papa Hundo that was living. He embraced fully his new role in identity and wasted no time in setting in motion his plan to undo some of the damages that legalization of marijuana inadvertently did to Humboldt County and the " greed weed" interests as he describes them. "The legacy growers and good people of Humboldt County were the source for marijuana in the United States. It's still the source of the best marijuana in the United States. It always will be. If you can grow 400 ft tall trees the soil the land and the environment is probably pretty good to grow in and anyone who's had humboldt knows it. When legalization happened we still lack interstate commerce, we still face stigma, we still face discrimination. The problem is that in a situation like there is in Arizona and the reason I had to leave in order to save my life is because competition has been limited by the government imposing a lottery system. A licensee does not need to be qualified they just need to win the lottery. That's how we end up with these greed weed situations where dispensaries believe they can play God with the lives of their patients and shut them up and they'll go away and nothing will happen. I'm not going away. And you're right something is going to happen if I don't go away, I'm going to tell the truth about you and what you did to me and what you do to everybody because you are greedy and you made your fortune on the backs of my friends and my family and then you denied me my life-saving medication.".
To date the local Tucson dispensary has been unwilling to apologize or acknowledge the actions of their management in injuring grace. Grace also points out that the medical director of the facility has never returned a phone call a letter a text and email absolutely nothing.
Grace has proven his commitment as Hondo in the short time that he has been back in Humboldt County. So far he has established a 1-mile long private island in the Eel River on the Avenue of the Giants that is owned by the collective that he has founded in the tradition of the wavy gravy hog farm. Hondo's version is called the Grateful Living Intentional Community. His goal of keeping the countercultural ideals of the '60s alive and relevant today and expressing a new generation of activists artists and people helping people caused him to decide that rather than joining the hog farm in Mendocino that he was going to create something entirely new in Humboldt County. He is dubbed his island project Big Papa Hondo Island. He has done all of the work himself refusing anyone assistance on this project showing the way that one person's actions can impact the world. He is quick to point out that this is one person who has pulled over 50 bags of trash off of an island and created an eco-friendly spiritual retreat and oasis where he lives with no power and no water and only a tent for structure. he has stated that he intends to keep the island completely primitive and population one in perpetuity.
Apparently he has a few more tricks up his sleeve because he also has just announced his construction work on what he calls the limelight Humboldt which is an old a-framed church building near the Avenue of the Giants as well as a community longhouse that he is converting to help house those who are housing challenged. While he is very vague on the details he has described Limelight Humboldt as being something unique that will only be in Humboldt County.
It seems that his effort to quote come out of the closet and quote are about to get a supercharged boost. In a surprise move, he has announced two shows at the Brooklyn Chop House in Manhattan New York City. The Brooklyn Chop House is a black owned business founded by hip hop industry veterans Robert Don poo and David Thomas.
"The Brooklyn Chop House was chosen and Halloween was chosen for very very specific reasons. Halloween has always been incredibly significant to me but this year would mark exactly 51 years to the date that my parents moved into the home that I grew up in and where I was taking care of them in Tucson Arizona before I was assaulted and trespassed from a state licensed medical marijuana dispensary in Tucson Arizona. I was living a happy life I wasn't hurting anybody I was doing everything that was expected of me and I was attacked trespassed and never apologized to. I'm going to tell my story. I'm going to tell it huge. I'm going to tell it where people understand that picking on those who are marginalized stigmatized and discriminated against is not okay."
He has announced 7:00 p.m. at the downtown location and 11:00 p.m. at the times Square location. Because of the celebrity and Superstar nature of the Brooklyn Chop House, it is anticipated that multiple a-list celebrities will be signing his famous jumpers to help gain money and awareness for Camp Winter rainbow as well as all of the causes that are near and dear to Big Papa Hondo.
"What my friends at the Brooklyn Chop House have meant to me is a true triumph of the human spirit. David Thomas is an inspiration. I love that man so much. He and I became close during my time in New York City and I love and support what they are doing symbolically at the Chop House but boy howdy there's no finer steakhouse in New York City"
It is inspiring to see Grace continue to show so much love for his previous home of Manhattan after he was really beaten protecting a young queer individual who was getting assault near his home.
"I saw what was happening and when I heard the word f**** it was all adrenaline. I remember saying hey you want to kick a f**** kick me... Unfortunately they did a lot. "
Grace points out that while we are certainly at a better point in society than we have been for queer rights that he is from a time that one seed of marijuana was a felony and we're being gay was in the diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders.
"I grew up believing that there was something inherently flawed about me for being gay. I believed that I deserved to get beaten If anybody found out because that's what happens to gay people and everybody knows that that's just what it is. That's what it was anyway and we fought really hard so that people could walk down the road without getting beaten. Remember AIDS came around and nobody knew what it was from people believed that if you sat on a toilet seat after a gay person did you would get AIDS and die. There was no internet You couldn't Google anything it didn't exist. We didn't even have pagers for crying out loud. The only source you got was telling you that there was something wrong with you and I didn't think there was something wrong with me nor did I think I deserve to get my head kicked in but I did."
Hundo has announced his plans to open the wavy gravy Museum, to open the Humboldt Hip Hop Museum, to open up a campground called the AOXOMOXOA OAKS, to reopen a long shuttered cheese factory in Humboldt, to open the Limelight, and of course to auction off the shoes he's using to do it all in with all the money going to camp Winnarainbow in January 2026. Hundo posts every single day for his 14,000 followers multiple times messages, music, fun, and sometimes a very serious tone especially when it comes to his frustration and disappointment in the Tucson dispensary that he feels has put him into exile and caused him a great deal of pain.
As if all of that was not enough he has repeatedly suggested that there was something huge with New York City and New Year's Eve. We can't wait to see what that's going to be All we know is he said it was something fishy. You can find him on Instagram at bigpapahundo or at bigpapahundo.com.
On September 25, 2025 Big Papa Hundo founded Big Papa Hundo Island. This private island in the Eel River along the Avenue of the Giants California Coastal Humboldt County Redwood Forest sits in the emerald triangle.
"The island and the river needed a new protector. I am the Humboldt lorax clown here to SAVE HUMBOLDT."
He has gone on to announce
Humboldtdope.com
Humboldtreggae.com
Wavygravymuseum.info
Bigpapahundoisland.com
Humboldthighdeway.com
And more...
He has mentioned the "Humboldt Marina" glass arts gallery with live torchworks in the works and a highly anticipated private social club for artist