Whereas many of the Southland’s Ramona-themed streets were inspired by an 1884 bestseller (see Ramona Boulevard), I believe Bellflower’s Ramona Street was likely named for a developer’s stepdaughter. Ramona Inez Bodell (1901-1991) was born in Waterloo, Iowa to Claude and Eda Bodell. In 1906, Charles McWilliams partnered with Frank E. Woodruff to develop what would become the city of Bellflower. McWilliams, who was from Waterloo as well, then married Ramona’s mother Eda in L.A. in March 1908 – she was a divorcée, he a widower. Ramona Street was named nine months later, and I found no likelier Ramonas to have served as inspiration. (Tragic side note: her stepsister Madeline died in 1922 from tuberculosis.) Ramona Bodell married real estate broker Charles Lafayette Hilliard in 1921, and they clearly did well financially: their names grace an endowed professorship at USC, which is no cheap thing. The childfree couple spent their golden years in Palm Desert.
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