I know the debate has been going on for ages but I thought of bringing it back after I found some map references. We know they live in California. But where in California?
Los Angeles. Its perfect and fits the description. Of course Los angeles is the city. The Animorphs live in the residential area by the beach, Pacific Palisades. Santa Monica can be considered as the suburban that comes in between the houses (Pacific Palisades) and the city (downtown Los Angeles). Los Angeles fits because it is twenty minutes (by car) away from the houses by the beach as said in the book.
Also there is the woodlands to the north of the Pacific Palisades. It is not a national forest as mentioned in the book. Its a state park, Topanga state park which forms part of the larger Santa Monica mountains (which by the way becomes the mountains mentioned in the books.) Who knows maybe Cassie mistook a state park for a national forest. They are both just as good. Also if we zoom out of the map we can assume the lake mentioned in book #3 to be the Malibu lake at the west end of the mountains. Also the ship harbor in book #4 is none other than the port of Los angeles to the south.
Also if we zoom in on the suburbs we can find surprising facts. The Santa Monica Place Mall (indoor back in 1990s but renovated to outdoor in 2010) easily becomes "the mall". In book #2, Rachel mentions of a YMCA opposite to the mall. And guess what. Santa Monica YMCA is also opposite to the mall.
Zooming in on the city, we can find the Los Angeles zoo which fulfils the zoo part of the "Gardens". Unfortunately, it does not come with an amusement park attached. This problem is easily compensated by the fact there is the Universal Studios theme park just next to the Los angeles zoo. Therefore we can safely assume "Gardens"=Los angeles zoo+Universal studios theme park. The book also mentions a river cutting through the city; Los angeles river. Book #7 tells that EGS tower is the tallest building in their city. If we superimpose this fact with the tallest building of Los Angeles in 1990s then we can say that EGS tower is the US bank tower.
If we zoom out of the place, we can even locate Royan island mentioned in book #15. It has to be one of the Channel islands in the pacific ocean presumably the Santa Barbara island (assumed by size). However it is a little further away from the shore than mentioned in the book. As for the ANG base mentioned in book #46, the closest we can assume is the NAS mugu point naval station west of the Santa Monica mountains.
If we zoom out further, we can also assume smaller details. The Drylands where Cassie and Rachel visits in book #14 is the Antelope Valley which is dry and forms the western tip of the Mojave desert. In book #31, Jake mentions about his grandpa G who lives in a cabin in the mountains which requires 8 hours of highway driving to reach. Santa Monica mountains is much closer than that. His grandpa must be living somewhere in the middle of the Sierra Nevada range which is consistent with the 8 hours.
