AN-GEL SAMUEL
Reporter

The Body, a popular college bar located on the Hwy 1 Bypass, closed in January, and owners said it will not be reopening.

The Antoon family owned the college bar, and they still own a bar next door called Antoon’s. The Body has been a family business since Johnny Antoon began it in the 1980s. His daughter, Danielle Antoon, said her dad was diagnosed with Multiple Myeloma cancer in 2010. While he was still alive, he was still able to run the business.

Johnny Antoon had a very good lifestyle as opposed to some people who battle cancer, Danielle said, and he was still able to go to work through his illness. He became sick in November of 2016, and passed away the day before Thanksgiving of the same year.

“It was his wish to keep Antoon’s open since that was the very first business he started in 1975,” Danielle said. “We hate to see [The Body] close, but unfortunately, that’s what we have to do.”

After his passing, the family had to make decisions about the two bars.

Antoon’s will remain open, per her fathers’ wishes, Danielle said. But as far as The Body goes, they will not be reopening it.

“My mom is 60 years old; she obviously doesn’t want to run a bar for the rest of her life,” Danielle said. “I have a full-time job with the American Cancer Society, and my brother is a lawyer in Lake Charles. Neither one of us had the time to run the bar with our full-time jobs.”

Junior Dorianna Telsee said she liked going to The Body her first two years of college, and she was upset to hear that it would not be reopening.

“I never had the chance to go, but a lot of my upperclassman friends said they loved it,” freshman Morgan Williams said. “I wish I could have gone before it closed.”