Another Bad Break for Hollywood Blvd. : Subway: This time, Red Line workers rupture a water main, leaving businesses without service. Last month, tunneling caused the street to sink.

Another MTA mishap hit Hollywood Boulevard on Wednesday when workers on the Red Line project ruptured a water main, unleashing a geyser in the direction of the Pantages Theater and forcing about 20 businesses to spend much of the day without running water.

Though the broken main caused no property damage and Hollywood Boulevard remained open, tempers were short after the second MTA construction problem in a month on the beleaguered boulevard.

The MTA had ceased tunneling in the Hollywood Boulevard area after its construction of a Red Line tunnel caused the street to sink as much as nine inches in August, but work continued on the planned Hollywood and Vine station, a few blocks east of the area with the greatest sinkage. On Wednesday, workers there were digging to locate water mains so they would not rupture them in the upcoming excavation.

“Well, we hit this one,” said Tom Horton, utilities coordinator for the MTA’s Red Line project.

Horton said the eight-inch main that was broken Wednesday could cause further sinkage. August’s sinkage was caused in part by broken mains saturating the soil over a Red Line tunnel and causing the ground to subside. Horton said engineers were carefully watching the tunnels under the affected stretch of the boulevard. Supports are on hand nearby if the tunnels begin to sag, officials said.

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Local business owners were not pleased. “These people have no idea what the hell they’re doing!” fumed Stan Seiden, president of the Pantages Theater, as he stormed past torn asphalt and hard-hatted engineers on his way to work Wednesday morning.

Signs at the theater boast that it’s “The best place to play in L.A.,” but that wasn’t the case Wednesday. “It’s horrible, they’re killing our business,” Seiden said. “I’m going to turn this over to my attorney.”

Water on the street was shut off at 8:30 a.m., and by 4:30 p.m. had been restored to most businesses on Hollywood between Gower and Vine streets. The boulevard has already been partially closed for two months because of the construction.

Officials estimated that 20 to 25 businesses were affected by the shut-off Wednesday.

“We apologize,” MTA spokeswoman Andrea Greene said. “We know how extremely frustrating this is. We also know how tremendous a system Metro Rail will be when it opens a couple of years from now. When you embark on so mammoth a project, things like this happen.”

Jack Dayyam, owner of Ronnie’s Donuts a few doors from the break, is also looking forward to the opening of Metro Rail.

“The sooner they’re done the better,” Dayyam said. His shop was almost empty at lunch hour Wednesday, and without running water he was forced to use bottled Evian to brew coffee.

“They’re expecting to come down and get their cup of coffee,” Dayyam said. “You can’t disappoint the customers.”

“Sale!” blared pink cardboard signs next to the Pantages, outside Etoile Inc., but to no avail. Fouad Nasri, the clothing store’s owner, stared out at his empty shop. He said the street construction has chased away customers, and the water main break may be the final blow.

“We’ve died,” he said, estimating that the store has lost about $200,000 during the construction.