Harry "Sugie" Sugarman, manager of Grauman's Chinese Theater, opened his Tropics supper club on November 27th, 1935 at 421 North Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills. The Tropics was one of the earliest exotic theme bars in the Los Angeles area, with an interior decor consisting of bamboo and tropical foliage. The club's dance floor was located in the "Rain Room" which had a glass roof upon which tropical showers fell several times each night.
The Tropic's food menu consisted mostly of Chinese and American dishes with the specialty being Sugie's Indian Curry Chicken. Sugarman capitalized on his motion picture connections by naming exotic drinks in honor of the celebrities who frequented the Tropics (such as Shirley Temple -- shown below...although her signature mocktail is said to have been invented in the late 1930s by a bartender at Chasen's in Beverly Hills). A few of the celebrities and the drinks they inspired at The Tropics were Sonja Henie (Thin Ice), Lana Turner (Untamed), Caesar Romero (Deep Purple), Rita Hayworth (Karanga), Paulette Goddard (Captain Blood), Barbara Sanwyck (Papeete), Robert Taylor (Coquette), and Bette Davis (Samoa of Samoa).
The Tropics was purchased by Stephen Crane and renamed The Luau in 1953. The Luau was demolished in 1979 to make space for a Rodeo Drive shopping complex. In addition to his Beverly Hills club, Sugie also opened another Tropics club at Sunset and Vine in Hollywood.