Less than a year after it detached and crashed into the restaurant, the windmill atop the Arcadia Denny’s is spinning again.

The new windmill was attached earlier this week to the Denny’s on the northeast corner of Huntington Drive and Santa Anita Avenue, and the restaurant kicked it into gear Friday evening with no intention of ever stopping it.

Denny’s district manager Andres Mendoza said locals and customers from near and far have asked about the windmill’s fate since it fell, without explanation, Dec. 29, 2017.

The last-of-its-kind windmill at the Arcadia Denny's, originally a Van de Kamp's coffee shop, is back and turning one again. pic.twitter.com/Mb1rsM7Zo6 — Christopher Yee (@ChrisMYee) December 1, 2018

With new windmill blades and a new motor, Denny’s intends to keep the windmill running 24 hours a day, seven days a week, Mendoza said.

“Above all, we want to thank the community for its support,” Mendoza said. “Without their support, this would not be possible.”

One new addition to the windmill is LED lighting capable of changing colors. Mendoza said the restaurant will change the lights’ colors to match upcoming holidays.

The windmill is the last remnant of the Van de Kamp’s Holland Dutch Bakery’s coffee shop franchise, which built 15 locations bearing the same design. The Arcadia location, the first of the 15 built, opened in 1967.

Well after purchasing the location in 1989, Denny’s reactivated the windmill in June 2016.

The diner chain spent about $100,000 refurbishing the windmill — replacing the motor in 2016, reinforcing the blades and adding new LED lighting — according to President and CEO John Miller. Mendoza did not know how much the replacement windmill cost.

In a statement about the windmill’s return, Miller waxed poetic about what it means for Arcadia.

“May the Windmill be the symbol for all, a symbol of a kind welcome to Arcadia, a symbol for what a community can do when united, a strong and noble message about many parts and gears — like many people and plans, that when working and turning in the same direction can be a light and model to many,” Miller wrote. “And may this be so for years to come.”

Denny’s employees and management were joined by Mayor Pro Tem April Verlato and a handful of residents when the windmill started turning again Friday.

Verlato is glad to see the windmill back, she said, because it and the restaurant are parts of local history and the history of Route 66.

“It was a real travesty that it had fallen after so many years of waiting for the windmill to start up again,” Verlato said. “We’re very grateful to Denny’s for all the money and time they’ve spent to restart the windmill and invest in our community.”