It’s Party Time for Metro Rail : Transit: Builders of the subway sponsor a celebration to cheer up construction-weary merchants along a restored 7th Street strip.

Builders of the Metro Rail subway system threw a party Monday for merchants along a two-block strip of 7th Street, an affair intended to celebrate the district’s freedom from three years of construction fences, earthmoving vehicles, hard hats and, most important, a construction-related slump in business.

Even with a 30-piece brass band, clowns and hard-working mimes, few store owners at the “Street Restoration Celebration” were in a festive mood: They have been freed from the machinations of Metro Rail construction just in time to enter a Christmas shopping season threatened with recession.

“Everybody hopes this season isn’t as bad as it’s being forecast,” said Sieg Lindstrom, owner of Fowler Brothers bookstore. “All we can do is hope. That’s all we could do for the last three years.”

Since late 1987, the chaos caused by the $48-million construction of Metro Rail’s first station kept customers away, forced delivery trucks to maneuver around earthmoving vehicles and allowed burglars and vandals to use the barricades’ nocturnal cover to commit crimes. Three stores closed.

It was not until last month that subway workers began removing the jutting fences that had turned sidewalks into narrow pathways and leisurely lunch-hour strolls into acrobatic feats.

“It became a real hassle,” said attorney Bari Vaughn, who works nearby. “The maneuvering, the noise, the dust. Every time I came around the corner, I had to calculate where I was going so I wouldn’t bounce into someone.”

On Monday morning, Vaughn managed to make it to the Roosevelt Pharmacy without worrying about whether her heels might break. This was no small concern. Vaughn, who had been used to going to 7th Street as many as four times a week before the construction, had ventured there no more than once a month over the last few years. Behind the counter, Ron and Neva Dashjian, the pharmacy’s owners, said that they are just beginning to see the return of old customers such as Vaughn.

“We are slowly seeing faces we haven’t seen in more than two years,” said Ron Dashjian, who has owned the pharmacy at the 7th Street site for 15 years.

The Dashjians estimated that their business dwindled by 20% to 25% over the last three years. They said they complained often about the narrowed and darkened walkways outside the pharmacy, but received little sympathy from subway officials.

At one meeting, Dashjian recalled, a construction superintendent told him they had no intentions of deviating from their contract despite the merchants’ complaints. “He just said there was nothing he could do,” Dashjian said, “and that was that.”

Six months ago, the county Transportation Commission took over administration of the project from the RTD and, according to some merchants, began to show some leeway, widening the sidewalk slightly. By then, many merchants had already had enough.

Laurent Quenioux, chef and owner of Seventh Street Bistro, became so angry that last December he filed suit against the agencies involved in the Metro Rail project, claiming that he was owed $800,000 for his business losses.

“I can’t even imagine how much I’ve lost since then,” Quenioux lamented as he prepared the menu for his lunch-hour crowd. Like other merchants, Quenioux said it may be a year before he sees all of his old customers return.

Along 7th Street, some merchants joined transportation officials in their determination to hold a party despite a gray horizon and a steady drizzle. As merchants distributed free marking pens, candy and plates of penne with mushrooms to reacquaint customers with their wares, Neil Peterson, executive director of the Transportation Commission, declared that 7th Street “has been revitalized in time for the Christmas holiday.”

Nearby, commission spokeswoman Robin McCarthy acknowledged that transportation officials have learned much from their mistakes.

In future Metro Rail construction projects on Wilshire Boulevard, Vermont Avenue and in Hollywood, McCarthy said, sidewalks will be wider, warning signs will be more plentiful, delivery trucks will have better access and merchants will have better lines of communication to subway officials.

Sieg Lindstrom of the Fowlers bookstore is not so sure. When subway officials visited recently to strongly urge him to give discounts for the Monday celebration, Lindstrom bridled at the notion. “Here they were, imposing again,” he said.

A customer, overhearing Lindstrom’s complaint, liked the discount idea. “Do I get one?” he asked.

“Sure,” said Lindstrom. “Tell you what I’ll do. I’ll double the price on any book you want and then sell it to you half price. Well?”