Harry "Sugie" Sugarman, manager of Grauman's Chinese Theater, opened his first Tropics supper club in 1934 or '35 at 421 North Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills (later it became The Luau). It was such a success that he opened this second location, the Hollywood Tropics, in 1939.
Around 1945, the Hollywood Tropics was bought by Glenn Billingsley. That same year, Tom Breneman bought-in and changed the Hollywood Tropics to a self-named restaurant.
Tom Breneman died of a heart attack in 1949. After Breneman's death, the building was occupied by the ABC Radio Center.