Old Inn where ‘struggling’ Pacman stayed is gone

MANILA, Philippines - When Manny Pacquiao first came to the United States in 2001, as a hungry boxer who didn’t have much in his pocket, he found a home in this cheap hotel along Vine Street in Hollywood.

Back then, one can book a room at Vagabond Inn for just over $50 a night. For his first fights in the United States, he would occupy a room for a month, with his handler, Lito Mondejar, and trainer, Buboy Fernandez.

Pacquiao’s wife, Jinkee, would squeeze her way in the small, twin-bed room, when she’s in town.

Vagabond Inn is located right beside Wild Card Gym where Pacquiao trained and first hooked up with Freddie Roach for the 2001 bout against Lehlo Ledwaba.

Paccquiao rose to stardom with each outing, and for the first Erik Morales fight in 2005, he moved out of Vagabond Inn for a more luxurious and spacious hotel room along Sunset Boulevard.

A few years ago, Pacquiao bought a big gray house in Larchmont Park for $2 million.

But he didn’t abandon his old nest at all because most of his visitors from Manila, family members and friends, who come to see his fights are billeted at Vagabond Inn.

Pacquiao’s old nest, Room No. 120, became known as the “Pacquiao room” or the “lucky room.”

For Manila-based reporters, the same room had become their headquarters. The last time Pacquiao visited Pinoy scribes in the same room, around seven years ago, he planted his back on the old bed.

“Ang tagal ko tumiira dito (I stayed here for long),” he said, tapping the bed with his hands.

Business at Vagabond Inn reaches its peak each time Pacquiao is in the US, and even its employees have become friends with Pacquiao.

A regular cashier at Vagabond Inn would get free tickets for Pacquiao fights in Las Vegas, and made sure he’d file his leave in advance just to catch the action live.

“We love Pacquiao because Pacquiao loves us,” he would tell Filipinos staying in the hotel.

But all is history now.

Yesterday, The STAR received word from a California-based Filipino, Tito Salvador, that Vagabond Inn had been torn down. He even took a picture of what is now an empty space.

Vagabond Inn has just moved out.

An empty space of history.