All Over Albany

The most popular items on AOA in 2014

At the end of each year we like to go the through the traffic stats on AOA to see which posts were most popular. It can be an interesting way to remember all the stuff that's happened.

So, here are the most popular items on AOA for each month during 2014...

January: A peek at the reopening Madison Theater
Tierra Farm re-opened the Madison in Albany as part of its makeover of the building.
Also popular: Brewery planned for North Albany warehouse district | When The Albany Bob was a tremendous craze

February: Stopping in at the Madison Pour House
A conversation with Brian Viglucci from BM&T Management Group about opening the Madison Pour House in the rebuilt former Mahar's building.
Also popular: Just another snowy day on Lark Street... | Sonic is looking at the Albany area

March: Modest Mouse at Brewery Ommegang
This caught a ton of search traffic, which pointed to the popularity of the show. The tickets sold so fast that the promoter added a second show. (By the way: The Market Bistro post in the "also popular" list for this month would have ranked number one for March, but its traffic was split over February and March.)
Also popular: Checking out the Price Chopper Market Bistro | UAlbany vs Florida, and a short history of #16 vs #1 in the NCAA tournament

April: AOA Startup Grant 2014
The startup grant contest returned this year and it was was very popular.
Also popular: The extraordinarily 80s Crossgates promo film | Brits R Us

May: Visions of a Capital Region after us
This post by Lauren about local photographer John Bulmer and his photoshopped creations of post-apocalyptic Capital Region sites got a huge number of shares.
Also popular: Rare Form Brewing Company | A miniature version of Troy and its past

June: Pizza at Kay's Pizza
Deanna wrote this Eat This about the Rensselaer County summer staple.
Also popular: Checking out the Whole Foods at Colonie Center | Free summer concert series schedule 2014

July: The $1,000 tip at The Ginger Man
The story about the $1,000 tip left for server Michael Shafts at the Ginger Man got a bunch of shares.
Also popular: Capital Region high school graduation rates 2013 | Flight Trampoline Park

August: Pics from the Albany flash flooding
A thunderstorm hit Albany with about 2 inches of rain in a very short amount of time, and the city's storm sewers couldn't handle it. Multiple areas of the city had flash flooding.
Also popular: Lineup for Pearl Palooza 2014 | South End Pallet Works

September: City Line Bar and Grill
New restaurant + prominent spot (on Western Ave, across from UAlbany) = much interest.
Also popular: In-between places: Waterford | Enigma.Co

October: Miss Pearl: An eye toward Bethlehem, and not feeling friendly
AOA's advice columnist debuted with answers to two questions -- the one about considering a move out of Albany because of the schools prompted a lot of conversation.
Also popular: A look inside Wolff's Biergarten Schenectady | What "they" say about here

November: In-between places: Duanesburg
The in-between places features are a lot of work, but we like them and we've been pleasantly surprised to see that lots of other people do, too. (Lauren wrote this one about the western Schenectady County town.)
Also popular: What if Upstate New York and Downstate New York were separate states? | Price Chopper is rebranding itself as Market 32

December: Crisan to close cafe
The owners of the Lark Street favorite announced they're closing the bakery's cafe (the bakery itself will continue to operate).
Also popular: Rivers Casino and Resort in Schenectady picked for Capital Region casino | Santa Speedo Sprint 2014 photos

A quick note: We filtered out regular features such as the Neighborhood and Stuff To Do, along with "utility" type posts such as map listings for apple picking and ice skating. Also, some things that are spread out over multiple posts -- like the Tournament of Pizza -- don't end up ranking as high as they would if totaled all together. And: We pulled the most popular items from December as of December 29.

Here's last the list from 2013.

More end-of-2014 stuff:
+ Favorite local foods 2014
+ Interesting stories to cover 2014
+ Great shows from 2014

apocalyptic Capitol photo illustration: John Bulmer