New Spin for the Round Table
New York's famed literary landmark, The Algonquin Hotel just completed a $3 million renovation and is poised for a new life which pays homage to its history. Primarily known for the Round Table, a regular gathering of famed writers of the 1920s including Dorothy Parker, Edna Ferber, Peter Benchley and Alexander Wolcott, it has played host to many American writers through the years.

Harold Ross, founder of the New Yorker magazine, rounded up seed money for the first issues at the Algonquin bar in 1924; William Faulkner wrote his 1949 Nobel Prize acceptance speech upstairs; and the Broadway team of Lerner and Lowe penned "My Fair Lady" in Room 502. In the 1970s, novelist Mario Puzo signed contracts in the lobby to turn "The Godfather" into a movie
-- Anthony Melchiorri, Algonquin General Manager

Today, the Algonquin offers Internet access and flat screen TVs in every room, 10% off meals for writers who present business cards or a manuscript in progress, and an "interactive" version of the Round Table in the lobby with actors playing the writers. Guests will be able to join the conversation and talk about an assortment of current events.