A Drunken Canal Founder Has a New Venture to Save Indie Media: Byline

Gutes Guterman sat on an antique French farm bench in Pig Bar, a craft beer shop overlooking the scene-y slice of Lower Manhattan known as Dimes Square. Reaching for a gherkin, her hand in a lacy fingerless glove, she paused to gesture toward the former site of the Drunken Canal newspaper box.

If you know, you know, she said.

It was a cool spring day, and Ms. Guterman, 26, was here to talk about her latest editorial venture: Byline, a website that went live on Thursday.

But first she had to address the end of her analog publication, The Drunken Canal, a print-only newspaper meant for people who have made out at Clandestino, as Ms. Guterman put it in a TikTok video, referring to a bar at the center of the scene.

Ms. Guterman and a friend, Claire Banse, started the paper mid-lockdown. During its nearly two-year run, the unmarked box near Seward Park was frequently restocked to meet demand for what became a sort of downtown vade mecum. Cheeky and cryptic, it ran headlines like Basic Things to Try This Fall (Based on Your Level of Depression) and New York Men You Will Ghost as Chocolates.