Woman who inspired famous Thanksgiving song ‘Alice’s Restaurant’ dies at 83

The woman who inspired one of the most famous Thanksgiving songs of all time is dead at age 83.
The Associated Press reports Alice Brock died Thursday, a week before this year’s turkey holiday, in Provincetown, Massachusetts. A cause of death was not announced, but Arlo Guthrie, whose song “Alice’s Restaurant Massacree” was inspired by Brock, said she had been in failing health.
“This coming Thanksgiving will be the first without her,” Guthrie wrote in a Facebook tribute Friday. “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.”
Guthrie, the son of legendary folk musician Woody Guthrie, reportedly met Brock in 1962 when he was attending the Stockbridge School in Massachusetts and she was the librarian. They became friends and he would stay with her and her husband at a converted Stockbridge church that became the Brocks’ main residence.
“Alice’s Restaurant Massacree” (also referred to as “Alice’s Restaurant Massacre”) recounts the story of how Arlo Guthrie was arrested when he and a friend were helping the Brocks throw out the trash on Thanksgiving Day 1965 and threw the garbage down a hill because the city dump was closed. They were charged with illegal dumping, jailed and fined $50. The incident reportedly made Guthrie ineligible for the draft, and the entire tale was woven together into a Vietnam War protest song.
“You can get anything you want at Alice’s Restaurant / You can get anything you want at Alice’s Restaurant / Walk right in it’s around the back / Just a half a mile from the railroad track / You can get anything you want at Alice’s Restaurant,” Guthrie sang.
The 18-minute song appeared on Guthrie’s debut album, “Alice’s Restaurant,” which went on to sell more than a million copies. There are few traditional Thanksgiving songs, but “Alice’s Restaurant Massacree” became a hallmark of the holiday with many radio stations playing it in its entirety on Thanksgiving Day for decades.
The song also inspired the 1969 movie, “Alice’s Restaurant,” which starred Guthrie as himself with a cast that included Pat Quinn, James Broderick and Pete Seeger.
Alice Brock, born Alice May Pelkey in New York City, was running The Back Room restaurant in Stockbridge at the time, though the song never names the restaurant. She also worked at two other restaurants in her career, and went on to write a book, “My Life as a Restaurant,” plus collaborated with Guthrie on a children’s book, “Mooses Come Walking.”
“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,” Guthrie wrote.