Los Angeles, Oct 11 (IANS) A hotel in the US state of California was forced to evacuate Sunday after police received reports that a parked vehicle was bombed.

The incident occurred at 7:30 a.m. (1430 GMT) at a garage beneath Clarion Inn, a two-storey hotel in the port city San Pedro, Xinhua reported.

However, the reported car bombing later turned out to be an act of vandalism when explosive experts determined that it was not a bomb that knocked a hole into the door of the vehicle, which also had its windows broken out, police said.

Earlier, police rushed to the scene and found that a sport utility vehicle was moderately damaged, with broken glass and some evidence of an explosion in one of its doors, Los Angeles Police Department spokesman Lt. John Romero said.

A hole punched into the side of the vehicle and its broken windows were not the result of explosives, Romero said. "We are confident there was not an explosion," Romero said.