A new windmill for the iconic Jersey Shore WindMill

The blades are back. Nearly five months after an iconic Jersey Shore eatery lost its signature windmill, new blades were hoisted by a crane and affixed to the Long Branch restaurant.

On Monday morning, crews began the process of resurrecting the West End Long Branch WindMill restaurant's windmill. The process, which happened in stages over the course of the day, wrapped up Monday afternoon.

On Dec. 28 at about 11:30 p.m. the windmill – a landmark on Ocean Boulevard for years – fell off the structure and came crashing down. No one was injured and the restaurant opened the following morning, right on schedule. But the owners - Steven Levine and his sister Rena - vowed that the windmill would rise again.

The original blades that made up the iconic windmill had been in place for just over half a century. They were replaced last October but the structure suffered in the wake of superstorm Sandy.

The WindMill is a franchise that has seven locations in Brick, Freehold, Red Bank, Belmar, North Long Branch, Ocean Grove and West End Long Branch. The restaurant has been serving hot dogs at the Ocean Boulevard location since 1963.

Toniann Antonelli is a social content producer for NJ 101.5. She can be reached at toniann.antonelli@townsquaremedia.com, or on Twitter @ToniRadio1015.