Tropico was established in 1887 as a Southern Pacific railroad siding, was briefly an independent city in the 1910s, and was merged into Glendale in 1918.

[4][5] The Los Angeles Times called the name Tropico "a horrible rumor...materialized into a fact.

"[6] The San Pedro and Salt Lake and/or "Glendale narrow-gauge" railroads also ran past Tropico.

[8] Other Southern Pacific-adjacent towns (or railway sidings) established in the Los Angeles area in 1887 were Fillmore, Saugus, Bardsdale, Fernando, Pacoima, Tuni, Dundee, Burbank, Aurant, Ramona, Shorb's, Nadeau, The Palms, Almond, and Sansevain.

[8] In 1903 the Los Angeles, Tropico and Glendale Electric Railroad Company made plans for an electric railway line "extending from the Los Angeles River south of Griffith Park to the Tropico schoolhouse, a distance of over a mile.

[13] In 1910, the Los Angeles Times delivered a report from town boosters that, "Tropico stands at the gateway between the valley and the city.

The Baumeister-Salyer piano factory is being built a little north of the center of town, G. H. A. Goodwin is opening a large subdivision, the Tropico Art Tile Works are being enlarged and the old Richardson ranch, where strawberries have been raised for years is about to be transformed Into a fine residence district, with cement walks and curbs, oiled streets and $4,000 to $5,000 houses and bungalows.

[16] Tropico ceased to exist as a municipality on January 9, 1918, when it was formally annexed to neighboring Glendale, California.

[19] In 1939, the Tropico district threatened to secede from Glendale and seek annexation by Los Angeles if requests for community improvements were not addressed.