Alice Brock, the influential figure behind a Massachusetts restaurant that inspired Arlo Guthrie’s iconic Thanksgiving song “Alice’s Restaurant Massacree,” passed away at the age of 83.
Her death, which occurred just a week before Thanksgiving, was made public on Friday by Guthrie via his Rising Son Records Facebook page. He revealed that she had been living in Provincetown, Massachusetts, for approximately 40 years and had been in declining health.
Further details regarding her passing were not immediately disclosed.
Guthrie expressed sentiments about their recent conversation, stating, “This coming Thanksgiving will be the first without her. Alice and I spoke by phone a couple of weeks ago, and she sounded like her old self. We joked around and had a couple of good laughs even though we knew we’d never have another chance to talk together.”
Born as Alice May Pelkey in New York City, Brock was known for her rebellious spirit and was involved with groups like Students for a Democratic Society.
During the early 1960s, she left Sarah Lawrence College, relocating to Greenwich Village before marrying Ray Brock, a woodworker who encouraged her to move to Massachusetts.
Guthrie, son of renowned folk musician Woody Guthrie, first crossed paths with Brock around 1962 while he was studying at the Stockbridge School in Massachusetts. They formed a friendship that continued after he left school, often staying with Brock and her husband at their transformed church residence in Stockbridge.
A remarkable series of events occurred on Thanksgiving Day in 1965 when a simple trash disposal task led to Guthrie’s arrest, subsequently influencing his refusal of military service during the Vietnam War, and inspiring a song that became both a classic protest anthem and a beloved seasonal tune.
Guthrie and a friend were assisting the Brocks with trash but ended up illegally dumping it after failing to locate a dumpster. This incident resulted in their arrest, a brief jail stay, and a fine of $50, an event that seemingly had minor consequences but significant ripple effects.
By 1966, Alice Brock established The Back Room restaurant in Stockbridge, while Guthrie’s musical career began to flourish with his breakout song—a lengthy narration of his arrest and the draft dodging it facilitated.
The song included a well-known chorus that paid homage to Alice, humorously noting her restaurant wasn’t actually named “Alice’s Restaurant,” even though it became widely recognized by that title: “You can get anything you want at Alice’s Restaurant.”
Although Guthrie initially thought the song was too lengthy to succeed commercially, it became an enduring staple on the radio and a cultural phenomenon. “Alice’s Restaurant” later became the name of his debut album, which sold millions, and it also inspired a film and cookbook of the same name.
Brock authored a memoir titled “My Life as a Restaurant” and collaborated with Guthrie on a children’s book called “Mooses Come Walking.” Just before her passing, they were engaged in discussions about a potential exhibit dedicated to her at the former Stockbridge home, now known as the Guthrie Center, which hosts free Thanksgiving dinners.
Throughout her life, Brock operated three different restaurants but eventually admitted to her initial disinterest in both cooking and the business aspect of running a restaurant.
She acknowledged that her professional commitments contributed to the dissolution of her marriage while firmly denying any rumors about infidelity. Her legacy was honored by Guthrie in “Alice’s Restaurant,” where he aptly mentioned, “You can get anything you want” at Alice’s establishment, “excepting Alice.”