She Put the Alice in Alice’s Restaurant

Amazing Tales from Off and On Connecticut‘s Beaten Path

The folk anthem Alice’s Restaurant, which debuted in the 1960s, has remained one of the iconic classics over the years. Arlo Guthrie (son of folk song writer and performer Woody Guthrie) told the story of an arrest for littering on Thanksgiving Day in the Berkshires of western Massachusetts and blended it with a strong statement against the military draft during the Vietnam War. The unwitting heroine of this was Alice Brock, who ran a restaurant in Stockbridge, Massachusetts and hosted numerous guests for meals at her converted church in Great Barrington – including the then-young Arlo. Her side of the story is not always heard – but you can hear it in this episode. And, there’s an interesting Connecticut twist awaiting you at the end.