It’s 11 p.m. on a Friday, and Central Street is as quiet as a feather landing on a patch of moss. Darkness has crept across the windows and the sidewalks are empty except for the trees that line the street.

The Central Street business district, east of Green Bay Road and across the street from Ryan Field, historically has been known as a quirky, unique shopping area full of an eclectic variety of small stores. But more recently, it’s been known as an area of economic decay.

“The problem with Central Street is that so many stores are going out of business,” said Marguerite Mishkin, who has worked at The Needle’s Excellency, 1630 Central St., for 20 years. “Every time you turn around, another shop’s closed.”

The closing of the Loews’ Evanston 5 movie theater, 1716 Central St., on Feb. 15 has caused many to worry that nearby businesses would suffer from the decreased foot traffic around the area.

The City Council is trying to remedy that problem by helping the city’s arts community to resurrect the Evanston 5 as a performing arts center. With a feasibility study underway to determine whether the theater still can draw people, shop owners and aldermen must wait and hope that, without an anchor, business on Central Street doesn’t float away.

A Street with Character

Two elderly men amble out of Master’s Barber Shop, 1705 Central St. Both dressed in white sweatshirts to combat the unusually nippy summer weather, they stroll east towards the El station discussing the film “Tomb Raider.”

And just across the street, a woman walks out of Preston’s Flowers & Gifts holding an armful of red roses and a miniature American flag.

And at Needle’s, Mishkin unravels a ball of red yarn as she talks to a customer on the phone.

Mishkin began working part time in the sewing store more than 20 years ago. She knows first-hand how important the movie theater was in attracting window-shopping customers.

“The first time I came to this shop was because of the theater,” she says. “I was walking out after a movie and I saw something in the window, but the shop was closed, so I came back the next day when the shop opened.”

But the theater’s closing hasn’t had too much of an impact on the Needle’s profit margin because the store specializes in such a small niche that about 80 percent of its customers are regulars, Mishkin says.

It’s Closing Time

One store that would have been eagerly anticipating the increased number of passers-by was the Bean Counter Cafe, formerly of 1932 Central St. The Cafe followed the theater’s lead and shut it’s doors nine days later, on Feb. 24.

Co-owner Ray LaMagna bought the business in the summer of 1994 and watched the Central Street area steadily attract fewer customers over the last five years.

“Our decision to, shall we say, move along, was spurred by what we saw as an ongoing decline in the street,” he said.

Although LaMagna said he didn’t close the cafe because the movie theater was shut down, he did say the closing contributed to the general malaise in the area.

“That part of Central Street was lacking in having anything going for it,” he said. “It was sleepy with the movie theater … and it is not more alive now that the movie theater is gone.”

The Evanston 5 movie theaters shut down in February after Loews Cineplex, the theater’s parent company, suffered a $272.9 million third-quarter loss last year. The theater was also dealing with newfound competition from the Century Theatres 18 screens which opened along with the Church Street Plaza in November 2000.

The movie theater on Central was one of seven Loews theaters in the Chicago area and 22 nationwide to close.

Starting over again

City Council members expressed their concerns about the area soon after the movie theater’s closing.

Ald. Stephen Engelman (7th), whose ward includes the Central Street business district, successfully ran for re-election in April with a platform that included rejuvenating commerce on the street.

The council took the first steps towards pumping economic life back into the area on June 11, when they voted to fund a $56,100 study to see how easily the Evanston 5 theaters could be transformed into a performing arts center. The study was started June 26 by David Woodhouse Architects.

City Manager Roger Crum said the city acted quickly to help find new tenants for the theater because all the parties involved needed to know what the renovation costs would be and whether or not they could start work or move on to another project.

“Something needs to happen to those empty movie theaters,” he said. “We just don’t want the theaters to be empty for a few years. A few months won’t hurt anything.”

The plans for the renovation have been spearheaded by Light Opera Works and Dance Center Evanston. Opera Works general manager Bridget McDonough said the two groups made a joint proposal to Evanston City Council’s Economic Development Committee soon after the theater’s closing to request funding for the feasibility study.

McDonough said Opera Works is interested in converting the west movie theater into a 900-seat theater. Dance Center wants to remodel the east theater into three dance studios, one of which would have flexible performance space, McDonough said.

The groups also want to find additional space for rehearsals and possibly another 300-seat theater that other Evanston theater troupes could use.

Most of the three-month study will be spent seeing if the theater can be renovated to contain modern amenities, such as air conditioning and a concession stand.

McDonough is confident that if the renovations go through, they will benefit the Central Street area as well as the arts community.

“The east part of Central Street is a little sleepy right now,” she said. “The Dance Center would bring (customer) traffic during the day, with students taking classes and parents picking them up. And the evening theater performances would bring hundreds of people on any given night.”

McDonough also predicted the arts center would be an “economic anchor” for the diverse Central Street stores.

“A lot of shops … would be very compatible with people attending performing arts,” she said. “(The shops) are very unique for the most part, they’re not chain stores, they’re unique gift shops, restaraunts and coffee shops. They would definitely benefit from additional people.”