Denny's

7 E. Huntington Dr., Arcadia, CA
Phone:

East < GO > West

A Denny's Restaurant occupies the sixteen sided windmill topped 1967 Van de Kamp's Holland Dutch Bakery building. Designed by Harold Bissner and Harold Zook it is the last windmill topped building in southern California. Preservationist protests in 1999 convinced Denny's not demolishing the building.

The windmill on the roof was a trademark design feature of the Van de Kamp's Holland Dutch Bakery company and appeared on their buildings through the area. The bakery was founded in 1915, but not at this location. Of the 15 coffee shops they built using this same deign, this was the first.

The windmill had been inoperable for several years, but in 2016 Denny's rehabbed it so it could twirl again, which it did beginning on June 29, 2016.. Then on December 29, 2017 the blades came off and crashed onto the roof of the restaurant . That led to another nearly year long restoration in 2018 which included new LED lighting with colors that can change with the seasons or holiday festivities.

Photo(s): 2015