February 8, 2007

Sunday Drive Through Lost City of Tropico

Sunday Drive, Los Angeles, 1912
LIKE A LANDLOCKED ATLANTIS, the lost city of Tropico, California (1911-1917), exists only in our imaginations. And on some old maps.

This map from 1912 shows a suggested Sunday drive from Los Angeles to points north, winding along the macadamized (paved with crushed stone) Los Feliz Avenue.

Drivers would pass Griffith Park and cross into the Los Angeles neighborhood of Atwater Village, bordering the City of Tropico. (Where the symbol indicates "gas and oil" and "garage.")

Tropico voted itself out of existence in 1917, and was annexed to the City of Glendale. It remains today as a Glendale neighborhood [PDF], bordered by Chevy Chase Drive on the north, Glendale Avenue on the east and Atwater Village on the west.


No comments: