It’s 9 o’clock on a stormy Saturday, and the regular crowd didn’t shuffle in. The rain storm may have kept some away, but not Anthony Petrone.

Sitting at the bar at The Bonnie on 23rd Avenue, Petrone says he likes to go out every weekend — and he thinks the scene is slowly returning.

"I think people are still coming out of their shell, to be honest, but there's pent up demand," the Astoria resident said. "I think people do want to come out at the end. I think by our DNA, humans are social animals, right, and want to be out see the nightlife."

Despite the weather on this night, every table in The Bonnie’s garden area was filled.

"It's not tourists are back, but it's like friends are coming into town. And we've just noticed that things have settled back to normal a little," said Emily McLoughlin, The Bonnie's general manager.

The Bonnie's owners also own bars in Manhattan. McLoughlin says at the height of the pandemic in 2020, parts of Manhattan looked like a ghost town, but Astoria kept that neighborhood feeling. McLoughlin believes it is in part because of to-go service, and commuters to Manhattan who were working from home in Astoria and staying in their neighborhood.

"A lot of people stayed, and a lot of people were here, and you still needed food, and you still needed a little bit of entertainment," McLoughlin said.

While the to-go drinks helped many bars survive through the city’s quarantine period, at times, the volume of to-go drinks sold made Astoria resemble Bourbon Street.

Police began cracking down on bars on Steinway Street in July 2020, when large crowds gathered and did not follow social distancing requirements.

McLoughlin says the buzz surrounding to-go drinks died down once patrons could sit at a bar again. But she says more people are ordering cocktails now than before the pandemic because she thinks they learned they couldn’t make a great drink at home.

“You’re paying for that expertise of like, we’ve got the big ice cubes. We have the fancy glassware. It’s not what you’re drinking your water out of at night,” McLoughlin said.

Jennifer Weill, the content manager for We Heart Astoria — an Instagram account following all the happenings in the area — says in 2022, people seem to be happy to stay closer to home versus venturing into Manhattan for a night out. But they’re still seeking unique experiences in the neighborhood.

“Where can I go dancing? Where can I see salsa? Where can I go to celebrate a small birthday party? Big birthday party. And so what we're noticing is there's just, events are back, and they're back with a great vengeance," Weill said.

It's something owners, workers and regulars at The Bonnie want to see continue.

"I'm a big believe in Astoria," Petrone said. "I think it's going to continue to do well. I'm hopeful for the next two years."

Raising a glass to what they hope will be the Roaring '20s, without leaving the borough.