What city were the rugrats from?

Answer 1

As the series is shown largely through a child's point of view, the area it is set in is never described precisely. It has been shown that the Rugrats, as it is probably assumed, live in the United States, and although the name of a specific city or state is never mentioned, an early episode shows the flag of California flying at a post office, so it may be assumed that the show takes place there. The best guess as to which region of the country in which the series takes place is somewhere in the southwest, since the family has taken trips to both the Grand Canyon and Las Vegas, and Stu once mentioned "driving through the desert" while returning home from a one-day trip. There have also been several scenes of desert or arid land around the area where the Rugrats live, but there was an episode which featured a snow-storm.

It is also unclear what type of community the characters live in; it could be a small city or a suburb of a larger city. This ambiguity in the setting was probably done intentionally to help give the impression of seeing the world through the naive eyes of toddlers.

One episode does however show they live somewhere in California due to the license plate shown on Grandpa's station wagon. In the episode Special Delivery, a post office has the state's bear flag in front of it. It also says in the Nickelodeon edition of Trivial Pursuit for Children that they live in California as the answer to a question asking where the Pickles live, which may be supposed proof as to what state they reside in.

Their whereabouts in California are probably in the locus of Oakland. In one episode, painters remark that black and silver, Raiders colors are a possibility. Of course, the Los Angeles area is also possible, as the Raiders played there until 1994. In another episode Stu, Lou, Drew, and Howard want to watch a football game between the Dallas Cowboys and the Houston Oilers. Stu and Howard wear Cowboys t-shirts, while Lou and Drew wear Oilers attire. This implies a possible Texas setting. However, this was ruled out by the Rugrats spin-off series All Grown Up! episode 'R.V. Having Fun Yet'. In which, the kids and their Moms travel across country to see Susie sing in a New York parade. At one point in the episode, a map is seen clearly indicating that the journey started in California.

In another episode in the first season, Didi is shown teaching at a high school in Yucaipa, an actual town about 70 miles east of Los Angeles. It does seem to snow in the wintertime, as in the episode where the babies play in the snow and pretend to go to the north pole.

However, in The Rugrats Movie, it is implied that the family lives close to Interstate 99, so the setting could also be somewhere in central Pennsylvania. This is a script or drawing goof, as California has a state California State Route 99 serving the east side of the San Joaquin Valley.

Answer 2

No one really knows, we know that they live in California and Tommy moved there from Akron, Ohio.