Mona Boulevard and Vesta Avenue honor sisters Mona Isabel Clague (1897-1976) and Vesta Grace Clague (1898-1980). Their parents William (1864-1931), a Methodist minister, and Alice (née Gelling, 1862-1941) both hailed from the Isle of Man. Either together or separately, they immigrated to Winona County, MN in 1891, soon marrying and having four children in quick succession. The family moved to Paso Robles in 1899 and Santa Maria in 1902; William then rather suddenly quit the ministry in 1904 and took the family down to Long Beach, where he got into real estate development. Although it appears his investments were successful, the Clagues and their offspring lived together in the same modest Pacific Avenue house for decades. Mona Blvd. and Vesta Ave. were christened in 1905; I don’t know why their father didn’t gift their sister Emile or brother Edwin with namesake streets, but he did name nearby Winona Avenue after the family’s old Minnesota home and Douglas Avenue after the Isle of Man capital. Mona, who never held a job, only married after her parents passed away. (The lucky fellow was one Gladstone K. Price.) Vesta wed Nebraskan Harry M. Gier in 1925. They had two kids and ran a Long Beach dry cleaners together.
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