Making It Up as I Go Along

Alice Brock, made famous in Arlo Guthrie's "Alice's Restaurant," believes in improvisation. And it's a good thing, too — she knew nothing about running a restaurant when she opened her now legendary business.

Welcome to This I Believe in NPR series presenting the personal philosophies of remarkable men and women from all walks of life .

I believe in mystery .

I believe in family .

I believe in being who I am .

I believe in the power of failure .

And I believe normal life is extraordinary .

This I Believe ..

Our This I Believe essay today comes from Alice Brock .She once own Alice's Restaurant ,the one that inspire the famous 18 minute talking blue song by ...The song and later the movie chronically invents the begin on Thanks Giving Day in 1965 . It involved a friendly group of hippies ,some illegally dumped garbage and and a draft of Vietnam war ,and of course Alice's Retaurant .

With that song ,Alice and her restaurant became a iconical image for the country cultural of the day .Here is our series creator ,independent producer Jay Alison .

In the case of icons ,the popular images not necessary an accurate representation of the person who inspried it .But Alice Brock's beliefs are not too distant from those can memoried by our local free song .They echo the spirit of the time . And although she has left the restaurant business ,she still lives by codes she developed there .Here is Alice Brock with her essay for This I Believe .

Just because you only have six plates and three glasses is no reason why you can't invite 12 people to dinner .You can drink out of a jelly jar or ten can . And there are lots of things you can use for plates ,like ...cups lined with ..,I once made a steak dinner in an apartment that only had one knife .We uses scissors ,it was quite memorable .I believe in improvising ,it's exciting ,it's an adventure ,a challenge and chance to be creeative . Not being locked into a plan ,a prescibed way of doing something ,leaves room for all kinds of wonderful stuffs to happen .You don't know what has to follow a recipe. I tend to use more batter ,eggs ,and garlic than a recipe calls for .The only unfortunate change this brings about is in my sizes .I didn't study how to own and run a restaurant .I pretty much made it as I went along . I was swept up with the idea ,the fantasy of having a restaurant just make something happen. It never occurs to me I couldn't do it ,I only felt that way after I opened up .But by then it was too late .And of courese ,making money at it was way down on the list of what mattered . And that allowed me the freedom to focus on creating something really wonderful .I had no idea how anything was supposed to be .I just buried head ,discovering all kinds of possibilities and making plenty of mistakes .And those are really great oppotunities to learn .When something works ,well ,that's that .When it doesn't I have to think about why .And I have to come up with some other way that will make it work .Mistakes lead to discovery and that can produce the life .Like cream of ..soup ,I made it in a pint once and believe me it's good .You should try it .In my restaurant ,I really hired people who were trained ,that was important .As long as you can take down an order ,treat people well ,and give them an experience they would remember .I didn't care if you were dressed up like a piece of ..In fact ,it was oddity that brought richness to everyone . Someone said it was too bad my restaurant was a failure ,why ?because when bankrupt ,I came away richer than restaurant owner could possibly dream of.Just not in terms of money . My belief in improvising was confirmed when I close my last restaurant 29 years ago . I just walked away . I didn't make any plans , I left everything behind and I came to live in a province's town where I always wanted to live and paint . I am still making it up as I go along .I believe there is no one way to do things ,the way that works for me is the way that works right now . But that might change tomorrw .

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