THE ROAD TO RECOVERY THE ODDEST THINGS TURN UP AT MTA'S LOST AND FOUND.

Byline: SUE DOYLE Staff Writer

One passenger lost his prosthetic leg on a bus. Another forgot the container with her mother's ashes. Someone else misplaced a human jawbone.

Some of the misplaced treasures left behind on Los Angeles' buses, trains and subways find their way to a two-room gallery holding some 12,000 items. But many other possessions that are reported lost -- some weird, some wacky, some mysterious -- never reappear.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority operates its lost and found in the former Tilfords Restaurant at Wilshire Boulevard and La Brea Avenue, which today is celebrating a $137,000 renovation.

``You learn a lot about people and their lives,'' said April McKay, the MTA's director of customer programs and services who oversees the lost and found.

Indeed.

Some 1.4 million people a day ride the MTA, carting along oxygen tanks, a locked box of church donations and their prescription medication -- and, somehow, leaving them behind.

Schoolbooks, wallets and cell phones are the most common belongings turned in.

``There's some of everything here,'' said Lorna Riley, the MTA customer service agent who logs and sorts everything that comes through. ``We even have children's immunization records.''

If Riley finds identification or contact information on the items, she notifies owners that their possession awaits them.

Most people are thrilled with the news, including the visitor from Costa Rica, who forgot a briefcase of cherished family photos while on a Los Angeles bus. Riley tracked him down in his native country using information about a Web site she found in his belongings.

About 15 percent of the purses, power tools and other possessions lining the facility's shelves find their way home again. Bicycles -- there are some 2,000 of them waiting -- have a 30 percent return rate, McKay said.

Some things -- clothes, books and toys -- are donated to the Midnight Mission, a homeless shelter on Skid Row. Backpacks that once toted schoolbooks to class are used by law enforcement agencies training dogs to sniff out drugs and explosives.

Most everything else not claimed in 30 days is turned over to Nationwide Auction Systems in Industry for sale. The MTA last year netted $7,000 from lost-and-found items, in addition to $4,000 in unclaimed cash.

But not everything is salvaged or sold.

A replica gun wrapped in a T-shirt that was found New Year's Day on a Green Line platform was turned over to Los Angeles County sheriff's detectives, officials said.

Odds seem likely that the fake gun owner won't claim the loss.

But plenty of others arrive at the lost and found every day looking for their possessions.

Take the man who removed his prosthetic leg so he could take a catnap on the bus. It was gone when he awoke, said Riley, and was never turned in.

That was the same outcome for a woman who showed up searching for a suitcase carrying her mother's cremated remains.

Then there's the science professor who lost his class assignment -- a jawbone -- on the bus. And the nervous lawyer who came repeatedly searching for a key ring with an important computer chip on it.

``Every day is different,'' Riley said. ``People have different stories. You never know what to expect.''

sue.doyle(at)dailynews.com

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CAPTION(S):

2 photos

Photo:

(1) Customer service agent Lorna Riley shows bicycles in the MTA's lost-and-found department, which is housed in its Metro Customer Center on Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles.

(2) A clarinet, held by April McKay, director of customer programs and services at the MTA, is among the items stored in the MTA's lost-and-found department.

Evan Yee/Staff Photographer