American Notes LOS ANGELES

The special-delivery package bulged with sportswear bearing fancy logos like Giorgio, Gucci, Nike and Louis Vuitton. A chic boutique? No, the recipient was the Good Shepherd Center for Homeless Women in Los Angeles. And the merchandise was $1 million worth of counterfeit name-brand T shirts, sweat shirts and running suits seized by lawmen in a sting operation last December. Instead of destroying the phony duds, city attorney James K. Hahn launched an unusual salvage operation.With the O.K. of firms whose names were pirated, the city divided the 43,000 items among eight community-service organizations. "Come winter those things are going to be very, very handy," said Carmen Hills, one of Good Shepherd's volunteers. "Some women come in here with nothing but identification, if that."