As soon as the buffet tables are removed from the dance floor, DJ Eddy K — who broke out his jeweled platform shoes for the occasion — turns up the volume on his mix of disco hits. Servers are buzzing about the room filling drink orders, most delivered to the dance floor, where baby boomers are showing off the moves they still remember.
When the clock strikes 9 p.m., it’s time for the entertainment. Six uniformed men emerge from the kitchen area: a cowboy, a cop, a Native American, a G.I., a construction worker, and a proudly hairy man in leather. It’s the Village People — the actual Village People, with two original members remaining — performing on the second floor of the Kowloon, a landmark Chinese restaurant in Saugus, known for its size and Polynesian kitsch.
Eddy K, interviewed during his initial DJ set of the evening, called the scene a “cruise ship in a Chinese restaurant.” In truth, it’s the rare vestige of a bona fide disco.
When the Wong family opened the Kowloon in the 1950s, the restaurant was a prime spot to see popular and local recording acts, according to one of the restaurant’s managing partners, Andy Wong, son of founder Bill Wong. After a couple of decades, the retro market provided a rich lode the venue could mine for talent. Kowloon began to bring in vintage acts like the Contours, the Temptations, and Ben E. King in the ’80s, and in 2000 began booking some of the same artists for anniversary parties to benefit local charities, including the Joey Fund and Ernie Boch Jr.’s Music Drives Us Foundation.
First and foremost, though, Wong and Fred Balboni, Kowloon’s entertainment consultant, are trying to preserve a distinct model of entertainment for the community. “There’s no supper clubs anymore,” Balboni said. “The closest you get to a supper club is here.”
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These events are meant to provide more than just the featured entertainment. They’re also catering to a crowd that’s come to party like it’s 1979 — buffet included.
The upstairs walls are a deep red, as are the hanging orb lights. In the hallway, people cradle drinks while chatting, escaping the noise. Inside the main room, boomers make their rounds on dance floor, greeting familiar faces.
“I think it’s great to bring back the classic dance music to everyone,” Eddy K said. “This is the ’70s crowd. Their kids have grown old, and they’re able to go out dancing again.”
Eddy K was himself a star club attraction DJ in the ’80s and ’90s. He’s an expert in dance music from every time period — something evident in his mix of everything from deep disco cuts to ’90s techno.
“When he played, you wouldn’t be able to move,” Balboni said. “We thought, hey, let’s revive that. Let’s get Eddy here, let’s get that boomer crowd here — let’s reinvent it.’”
Not as simple as it sounds, Balboni pointed out. “There is a little bit of science to it,” he said. “We don’t bring back any oldies act; we pick the ones with timeless songs that young people might have heard on radio or on TV.”
Along with the aforementioned artists, Kowloon has hosted Taylor Dayne, Debbie Deb, Peaches and Herb, and the Four Seasons over the years. Another recurring act is the Platters, an act Balboni manages.
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It’s his industry connections as an artist manager that helps him land acts like the Village People — who typically play resorts like Foxwoods — into a venue the size of the Kowloon.
“I’m always like, Hey I got this place I want you to play. Now before I tell you, it’s a very well-known landmark Chinese restaurant,” Balboni said. “A lot of the time they know the name, so they’re familiar. And they’re like, ‘Chinese restaurant, really?’ Automatically they’ll think karaoke, and I’m like, No let me tell you some of the people that have played here.”
Kowloon, with its capacity of 400 people, might seem like a step down for artists accustomed to playing for 4,500. What’s more, the stages sit in the center of a long, narrow room, making it difficult to squeeze more than a fraction of the crowd down front.
Even so, performers seem to love it. “You can get down and dirty, for lack of a better term, with the audience, and connect to the audience again,” Balboni said. “Artists don’t really get to do that in huge theaters, so that’s why the Kowloon is great for them.”
For the Village People, perhaps it felt like the kind of gig they got at the start of their career: bookended with DJ sets, facing an audience with no expectation beyond a good time. Knowing this, they pull out all the stops, offering a medley of “trash disco” hits and teaching everyone the proper way to do the “Y.M.C.A.” dance for their finale.
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For everyone involved, this is the spot to indulge in the past. One couple showed up in matching disco jumpsuits. Another man was brought on stage to demonstrate a hectic, obscure ’70s dance.
Whether mounting a realistic disco set, a doo-wop show, or just a meal accompanied by oldies ballads, Kowloon puts its faith in the power of nostalgia.
“Everyone likes to reminisce.” Wong said. “It’s fun to reminisce.”
John Paul Stapleton can be reached at john.stapleton@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @JohnP_Stapleton.