Remembering ‘Alice’ Of Arlo Guthrie’s Thanksgiving Classic ‘Alice’s Restaurant’

Thanksgiving is loaded with traditions, and for many listening to Arlo Guthrie’s epic 18-minute saga “Alice’s Restaurant Massacree” is an annual holiday event. Guthrie’s satirical tale of littering, small-town policing and draft boards was inspired by real-life experiences centered around an establishment owned by Alice Brock, the woman who served that famous Thanksgiving dinner recounted in the song.

An artist, author and restauranter, Alice Brock sadly died on Thursday, November 21 at age 83. Guthrie shared word of her passing, noting it occurred one week from Thanksgiving.

Guthrie’s “Alice’s Restaurant Massacree” was inspired by real events that happened on Thanksgiving Day 1965 in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. In his post acknowledging Alice’s death, Guthrie recounted their connection, writing:

“Alice passed away a week before Thanksgiving. She was living in one of her favorite places – Provincetown, Massachusetts where she’d been for over four decades.

“I first met Alice in 1962 when she was the school librarian at The Stockbridge School (boarding school), in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. I was there beginning my second of four years. I also met, Rick Robbins, another student, and we’ve been friends ever since.

“Alice’s mother, Mary Pelky, bought the church in June of 1963 and gave it to Ray and Alice who began transforming it into a home. After the school year, my brother and I, along with Rick and a few others spent the summer with Alice and her husband, Ray on Martha’s Vineyard where they ran the Youth Hostel in West Tisbury. Alice always loved being on the Cape. It was home.

“I returned to The Stockbridge School after a most wonderful summer, playing music every night, and generally goofing off. Ray and Alice got busy at the church, making it into a home.

“For the next couple of years, friends would gather at the church from time to time, play some music, and generally enjoy a loose network of like minded people. Then it all changed.

“Rick and I went to visit Ray and Alice for Thanksgiving in 1965. The rest is history.”

After dinner, Guthrie and Robbins attempted to help the Brocks by taking a large load of garbage to the town dump, but found it closed for the holiday. Instead, they dumped the garbage down a hillside where other trash had accumulated. This led to their arrest by Officer William “Obie” Obanhein for littering.

A local newspaper’s account of the incident was recorded in an article titled “Youths Ordered To Clean Up Rubbish Mess”:

LEE — Because they couldn’t find a dump open in Great Barrington, two youths threw a load of refuse down a Stockbridge hillside on Thanksgiving Day Saturday. Richard J. Robbins, 19, of Poughkeepsie, N.Y., and Arlo Guthrie, 18, of Howard Beach, N.Y., each paid a fine of $25 in Lee District Court after pleading guilty of illegally disposing of rubbish. Special Justice James E. Hannon ordered the youths to remove all the rubbish. They did so Saturday afternoon, following a heavy rain.

Police Chief William J. Obanhein of Stockbridge said later the youths found dragging the junk up the hillside much harder than throwing it down. He said he hoped their case would be an example to others who are careless about disposal of rubbish.

The junk included a divan, plus nearly enough bottles, garbage, papers and boxes to fill their Volkswagen bus.

“The stuff would take up at least half of a goodsized pickup truck,” Chief Obanhein said.

The rubbish was thrown into the Nelson Foote Sr. property on Prospect Street, a residential section of Stockbridge consisting largely of estates on the hill across from Indian Hill School.

Chief Obanhein told the court he spent “a very disagreeable two hours” looking through the rubbish before finding a clue to who had thrown it there. He finally found a scrap of paper bearing the name of a Great Barrington man. Subsequent investigation indicated Robbins and Guthrie had been visiting the Great Barrington man and had agreed to cart away the rubbish for him. They told the court that, when they found the Barrington dump closed, they drove around and then disposed of the junk by tossing it over the Stockbridge hillside.

The legal proceedings that followed, including Guthrie’s court appearance, fine, and requirement to clean up the garbage, became the basis for the song’s satirical narrative about bureaucracy and the Vietnam War draft. While the song’s sprawling narrative spans 18 minutes and includes many humorous embellishments, these core events – the Thanksgiving dinner, illegal dumping, arrest, and subsequent entanglement with the draft board – are based on actual occurrences from Guthrie’s life.

“A lot of people thought it was fiction and this is all real stuff,” Guthrie told NPR. “I had visited my friends during the Thanksgiving break, Ray and Alice, who lived in this abandoned church. They were teachers at a high school I went to just down the road in the little town of Stockbridge, Massachusetts. And a friend of mine and I decided to help them clean up their church, and because I had gone to school there, I was familiar with all of these little back roads and nook-and-cranny places. And I knew a place that local people were using to get rid of their stuff.”

Brock’s dining establishment The Back Room opened around the time of the events recounted in “Alice’s Restaurant Massacree.” The church where Thanksgiving dinner was served in 1965 is now home to The Guthrie Center at Old Trinity Church. Brock later owned and operated two additional restaurants, Take-Out Alice and Alice’s at Avaloch.

Long before she became the namesake of one of folk music’s most beloved songs, Alice Brock was already carving out her own space in the vibrant Berkshires arts scene. Brock’s influence on the ’60s counterculture movement wasn’t just through Guthrie’s song – though that certainly amplified her reach. Her restaurants became gathering spots that helped shape the era’s artistic climate.

Brock appeared in the 1969 film adaptation of the song alongside Guthrie and Officer Obie also portraying themselves. She authored The Alice’s Restaurant Cookbook, but by 1979 Brock was out of the restaurant business. She continued pursuing other artistic endeavors and published additional books.

“Alice went into the restaurant business and I began my years as an entertainer,” Guthrie wrote last week. “We were, both in our own ways, successful. As well as being a restauranteur, Alice also became an author, and an artist. We worked together on various projects. During the next few decades we remained friends while our lives kept us busy. She was a no-nonsense gal, with a great sense of humor.”

“Alice’s Restaurant Massacree” served as the entire A-side and title track to Arlo Guthrie’s 1967 album. The song can be heard on radios and stereos around the United States every Thanksgiving.

Whether its a longstanding Thanksgiving Day treat or a new addition to your holiday traditions, set aside 18 minutes and gather the family around to experience the retelling of “Alice’s Restaurant Massacree” in honor of Alice Brock below: