I joined Toastmasters in 2004 after spending most of 2003 visiting clubs and finally forming two clubs at the company where I work. I quickly learned most of what is involved in running a club and a district. I raced through the award levels and earned my DTM (Distinguished Toastmaster) in near-record time of 31 months. Only 1% - 2% of the 3.5 million people who have ever joined Toastmasters have earned a DTM.

So, since I was in the area, I had to at least stop by the place to take a picture. I did not really know what to expect when I got there. I knew it was a suburb southeast of Los Angeles. When I turned onto highway 133 I was finally out of heavy traffic. Later I found out why. In the span of 15 miles I had to stop four times to pay tolls for a total of $10. Anyway, you know how your mind's eye forms a picture of something that at first you only know by voice and/or email and name. Guess mine had done that. Turns out, of course, that reality is nothing like what my mind's eye had conjured up. It was a low style building in what almost looked like an office park area. You can see from the photos.

I walked in and one lady was sitting in this large lobby area. The phone just kept ringing constantly and the lady would dispatch the calls to the appropriate person/department. I made a comment about the phone ringing often and she said "this is nothing, next month, when membership dues are due it will ring so that a couple of dozen people are on hold at any one time.

The reception lady offered to arrange for me a tour of the place but said it would take a while to get that set up. I declined the offer so then she pointed me to the product store (buy now, save shipping!) and a small museum in honor of the founder, Ralph Smedley.

It was fun to be there to finally "add a face to the voice" of Toastmasters.