popular with journalists who nicknamed the ground-floor bar the Continental Shelf. Newsweek and Time magazines each had their Saigon bureaux on the second floor of the hotel. Following the Fall of Saigon in April 1975 ownership of the hotel was taken over by the Ho Chi Minh City Government and Tự Do Street was renamed Đồng Khởi Street. The hotel was closed in 1976 and reopened again in 1986 as the Đồng Khởi. The hotel was completely restored from 1988-9 and reopened in 1989 as the Hotel Continental. Notable Guests Notable guests include: Rabindranath Tagore Andre Malraux Graham Greene, long-term guest in room 214, who conceived the work The Quiet American about the aftermath of the French Colonial period Jacques Chirac Mahathir Mohamed Hubert Marchat Tiziano Terzani Hunter S. Thompson, stayed in room 37 while documenting the last days of Saigon in 1975. In popular culture The hotel features prominently in Graham Greene's novel The Quiet American and in its two film adaptations in 1958 and 2002. It also features in Don Winslow's novel Satori. The Continental also is a central locale in the film Indochine. See also Heritage hotels in Vietnam Sofitel Legend Metropole Hanoi List of historic buildings in Ho Chi Minh City References External links Hotel website Hotels in Ho Chi Minh City Hotel Continental Hotels established in 1880 Hotel buildings completed in 1880 1880s establishments in Vietnam