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    Bar Owner No More

    Double Happiness owner and booker Yalan Papillons has found a new direction. It’s why she’s put the venue up for sale, and why hip hop artists Mood and Lone Catalysts will be the last artists to grace the stage before it closes on Sunday, November 26.

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    “I’m sad about it, but I feel like when I’m behind here sometimes…I’m tired,” Papillons said. “I’m ready. I feel like I have this calling to be a healer — or, not a healer, but, like, a vessel to heal.”

    She’s studied to be a Reiki master and now works at a clinic for Somali women. With her clients, Papillon uses reiki’s therapeutic massage techniques to connect them to a qi, or universal life force, and facilitate emotional or physical healing. The practice has transformed her life perspective, moving her to reprioritize.

    Open since 2010, Double Happiness is the same age as Papillons’ 7-year-old daughter. In those seven years, it’s become the embodiment of her first entrepreneurial vision — a gathering room, a stage, a safe space for artists.

    “A lot of people got to play their first shows, their first DJ shows when people weren’t taking them seriously. We had 83 Gallery next door, so we had the art space next door, had the bands staying there. So, that was sort of like a community gathering, taking care of them and stuff.”

    More of an intimate show house than a bar, Double Happiness thrived on the thousands of performing acts that took the stage over the years. Booking each of them, Papillons also made sure the bands had a place to stay and food to eat.

    As far as promotion, she always felt she could do better, and that’s another reason for the closure.

    “I didn’t feel like I was doing the best I should be doing,” she admitted, “and I also thought maybe I shouldn’t be doing this.”

    She wants to spend more time with her daughter. And, as she manages a thyroid condition, her health is also a priority.

    “Right now, I can’t. I can’t do everything,” she said. “I think I’d like to go into a collaborative. I’d like to get investors and stuff like that, but right now I won’t be able to spend any time with my daughter and be able to do the constant booking.”

    Papillons is open to the idea of returning to entrepreneurship, but anything that comes out of it won’t look much like Double Happiness. She imagines a place more active during the day that could turn into a meditation center on the weekends.

    “It sounds really hokey and crazy, and it sounds like I’ve sort of lost my mind,” she said, laughing. “I’m not a hippie. I’m punk rock. But I’ve gained my mind and became more punk rock by becoming this, constantly questioning everything.”

    For more information, visit doublehappinessohio.com.

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    Lauren Sega
    Lauren Segahttps://columbusunderground.com
    Lauren Sega is the former Associate Editor for Columbus Underground and a current freelance writer for CU. She covers political issues on the local and state levels, as well as local food and restaurant news. She grew up near Cleveland, graduated from Ohio University's Scripps School of Journalism, and loves running, traveling and hiking.
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