SAUGUS — The North Shore’s iconic Kowloon Restaurant is set to get some screen time.
The restaurant, which has been in operation since 1958, will be the subject of an upcoming documentary film.
The project is a creation of filmmakers Mona Xia and Erin Ramirez, who met at the University of Southern California as undergraduate students and have each worked in the film industry since graduation.
Xia, who currently lives in Hawaii and works as a freelancer, said the project came about in September 2022 after she discovered Kowloon online. She started corresponding with one of the restaurant’s owners, Bob Wong, and learned more about the restaurant and the Wong family.
“I actually found them when I googled ‘biggest Chinese restaurant in the U.S.’ and I got really sucked into this story,” Xia said. “If it was just any restaurant I don’t know if we would have told their story… Kowloon is not an ordinary place.”
Xia said when she learned about the restaurant’s plan to downsize, she knew she had to start work on the project. One of the essential questions of the film, she said, is why Kowloon has meant so much to so many people.
“It was unbelievable to us that a restaurant where people order food and dine could mean so much to an entire community,” she said.
Ramirez, who is a graduate student at Columbia University, was raised in New Hampshire. He had been aware of the restaurant because he grew up in the area, although he had never been to it before he started working on the project. While he now lives in New York City, Ramirez said he is proud to be able to tell the story of Kowloon.
Ramirez decided to check out Kowloon before the filmmakers’ five-person crew shot for the film in early June.
He said that one of the aspects that stood out to him was how much of a microcosm the restaurant is.
“I came across almost every type of American person within the framework of a week,” he said. “That’s a really unique environment… I think that Kowloon really builds and encourages a sense of the community.”
Ramirez said that during his visit to the restaurant, Linda Wong, one of the siblings who own the restaurant, showed him a collection of family photos featuring the restaurant and the Wong family. This inspired the filmmakers to launch a public call for footage and materials to be used in the film.
“The restaurant has such a rich history that we wanted to incorporate it into the film visually,” Ramirez said.
Xia and Ramirez said they weren’t sure how much material they received in total, but they received a huge amount of interest in helping the project.
“We’re super grateful that everyone was so eager to share their memories with us,” Xia said. “It was a lot more than we were expecting.”
Bob Wong said his family members did not add any of their own videos to the project. While he hasn’t seen too much of the footage that was collected, he said that it is likely to bring back memories.
“Seeing people that you knew and know and going back in time… It’s great,” Wong said. “It brings back great memories just to be able to do this.”
Both Xia and Ramirez credited the Wong family with the restaurant’s special meaning to so many.
“Whether you’re a customer, a friend, or a family member, there’s always a sense of comfort that the family is instilling in the restaurant,” Ramirez said.
The filmmakers shot footage of the restaurant and conducted more than 15 interviews with the customers, staff, and members of the Wong family in early June.
The documentary is expected to be around 15 minutes long, and to be entered into festivals. However, Xia and Ramirez said there is the possibility of a longer version if there is interest.
“We wanted to do the short film first to see if there was interest to do something bigger, because we would definitely need more funding for that,” Xia said.
Both Xia and Ramirez said they were grateful for the Wongs’ willingness to open their doors, and share their memories and story with the filmmakers.
Bob Wong said he was excited about the project when he was approached, but unsure of what to expect.
“I didn’t know where it was going to go,” Wong said. “Sometimes people ask and it sort of falls by the wayside and nothing materializes, but they really wanted to do the documentary.”
He said he is often surprised about the interest that his restaurant garners, as someone who has worked there and been around it his whole life.
“I’m always amazed at how other people look at it,” Wong, whose parents were the original owners and operators of the restaurant, said. “It’s humbling.”
