Long Beach sand in his shoes

Hours before the Chicago Cubs and Cleveland Indians took to the field for Game 1 of the World Series, actor Billy Crystal laughed when a reporter mentioned that his action-comedy “Running Scared,” in which he starred with the late Gregory Hines, came out 30 years ago.

In the film, Crystal plays a detective and a Cubs fan, and while it’s well known that the Long Beach native is really a diehard Yankees fan, the connection wasn’t lost on him.

“Yeah it’s a good movie — that was fun,” Crystal said from his home in California. “I’m excited. I think it’s a good World Series. I love that there’s history on both sides. The Indians haven’t won in 61 years, right? And the Cubs haven’t won since … Moses. I think what’s good about it is it’s the two best teams … I’m going to say Cubs in six.” He was close: The Cubs won in seven.

Crystal’s love of baseball was well documented in his Tony Award-winning one-man play, “700 Sundays,” a love letter to his childhood in Long Beach that explores his relationship with his father, who died when Crystal was just 15. He grew up at 549 E. Park Ave. with his two older brothers and graduated from Long Beach High School in 1965, and has been known to pop into Gino’s and the Laurel Diner when he’s in town.

Just a week before Game 1, Crystal, 68, was in Long Beach visiting his family, including his brother, Joel, a former City Council president and the co-chair of the city’s Community Reconstruction Program committee, which was formed after Hurricane Sandy to identify critical storm-resiliency projects.

It has been more than three years since the iconic actor, best known for his hit films “When Harry Met Sally …,” “City Slickers” and “Analyze This,” appeared on the new Long Beach boardwalk to enthusiastic crowds and filmed a commercial to promote the town in the aftermath of the storm — and to let people know that Long Beach was a symbol of recovery.

With the help of his celebrity friends, he also raised more than $1 million for the city’s relief fund. He and his wife of 46 years, Janice, who also graduated from Long Beach High, contributed $112,000.

The funding has been used for numerous projects, ranging from new basketball courts at the Recreation Center — courtesy of Crystal and Basketball Hall of Famer Nancy Lieberman — to a new bandstand for concerts and events, numerous refurbishments at the Rec Center, a youth mentoring program, and even drainage upgrades. And officials say more projects are in the works.

He also held a free screening of his film “Parental Guidance” in 2012 for storm victims to boost community morale, and called on the Federal Emergency Management Agency to cover the cost of replanting Sandy-damaged trees, which the agency agreed to do. Clearly, it’s no secret that Crystal is committed to the city’s ongoing recovery effort.

“Behind the scenes, Billy and Janice have played a very helpful and important role, and have been deeply engaged in our recovery process,” said City Manager Jack Schnirman. “They helped accomplish things that people may never realize they were a part of — and wanted no credit for.”

In an exclusive interview with Long Beach Magazine, Crystal talked about his ongoing commitment to the community, the helplessness he felt during Sandy, his friendship with the late Muhammad Ali, and how he remains close with his old high school friends.

LB Mag: What was going through your mind when you learned how devastating Sandy was?

Billy Crystal: From the time I saw the warnings of the storm, and telling my family and everyone, “Get out of there and please don’t stay there, it’s going to be bad,” to seeing [Long Beach] four feet underwater on CNN — all the places I’ve known all my life — and feeling so helpless about it and worried for the town, friends family and everybody were there. I have always felt this loyalty and connection. Even though I haven’t lived there since 1976, it’s still my home in so many ways. And what can you do? From here, what can you do?

LB Mag: Your eulogy for Ali in June was incredibly moving. Can you tell us about the role he played in helping you raise money for Long Beach after Sandy?

Crystal: It was the next day, I got a call from Lonnie Ali, Muhammad’s … wife, and a terrific man who runs an evening called Fight Night in Phoenix every March that I’ve attended every year; they raise money for Parkinson’s research. What can we do, how can we help? And so, through their generosity, they allowed me to basically, that evening in Phoenix, auction myself off to do events for people. And I asked friends to help me. So Robert De Niro, Robin Williams and then Steve Martin all volunteered to come to functions with me. It was like intimate dinners with millionaires, billionaires who understood that sitting down with us would result in helping Long Beach get up on its feet. And then Janice and I … were able to top it off and raise over a million dollars. And we’ve since given more money as time has gone on.

LB Mag: How was Ali’s support a testament to his character and your long friendship?

Crystal: [Ali’s] character and his friendship to me were one in the same — I didn’t have a public friendship with him, it was a private friendship. And to be so generous and to understand that people were hurting and it was my hometown — it wasn’t Louisville — it was how could we help? He was about people, ultimately, and  in his silence, he was as eloquent as he was when he was speaking. I wasn’t a showbiz friend, I was a friend, and that’s what was remarkable about the whole thing. I was living in Long Beach when I first met him, when I did my first TV show, and that connection with him was something I couldn’t really believe after all of these  years. And when I was asked to speak and learned that the memorial was five years in the making, and that he wanted me … and here we are and the world is watching and what a long journey we had together, 42 years of knowing each other.

LB Mag: Four years after the storm, what are your thoughts on how far the city has come and its ongoing recovery?

Crystal: There’s still more to do. The city seems to be much more vibrant, it’s still rehabbing — the houses are being raised, those trees that ingested all that saltwater, those will come down and new ones will come in. Nothing turns over quickly, and I think people are feeling much happier in town — I sense a big feeling of relief, as I see changes happening right in front them. I think that’s great. But, you know, every time you see on the news that another storm is brewing in the Caribbean, you get nervous. We were very proud to be able to do what we could. Once all the money came in, Janice and I worked very closely with [City Manager] Jack Schnirman to pinpoint areas where we wanted the money to go to, that we felt a connection to. We didn’t just want to make a donation and not know where it went. We really wanted to have a say in helping the city in different ways get up on its feet.

LB Mag: Looking back, what do you think your appearance on the boardwalk meant for morale after the storm?

Crystal: What was great about it was there were 1,000 people on the beach itfelt like, and, for me personally, I just wanted to tell them that they weren’t alone. It’s interesting, when you’re in the limelight you’re a target so easily, and as soon as the flooding started, “Where’s Billy!” And there are still people who are mad about, “Why are you screening [a movie]? I need electricity!”

LB Mag: Did you get some of that afterward?

Crystal: Oh yeah, but I understand where it comes from. People are terrified, they’re homeless, they have no electricity, and their lives have been terribly shaken up. But I felt it was important to be there again and to promise them that whatever I could do, we were there for them.

LB Mag: Do you still keep in touch with friends here?

Crystal: I have a really good group of close friends still. We see each other, and last year I was at my 50th — I can’t believe it — high school reunion. And it was great. Your first friends are usually your best friends, especially as you get older. We had 500 kids graduate in ’65, a big class, and we had a big group of friends.

LB Mag: You recently auctioned some of your movie memorabilia and other items on eBay. How did it go?

Crystal: It was good — I think we raised over $12,000 or something like that. I had moved offices and into a space that couldn’t command the volume of photos and stuff I’ve accumulated over the years, and so I said, “Why don’t we have a sale and whatever it is will go to the Long Beach Relief Fund.” And we sold stuff online and some really fun things, and people seemed to respond to it. I’ll do it again because my wife tells me I got to clean up stuff.

LB Mag: Why do you think “700 Sundays” resonated with so many people?

Crystal: I think it resonated with people because it was real. It wasn’t just about my family and their eccentricities, and their triumphs, and failures, and their lives, and their passings. I think it became universal. It touched people. Everyone will come to a point where they’ll lose someone that they love — it’s just what life is like. And the fact that the show was open and honest about that, and portrayed a 15-year-old boy’s struggle to come to terms with the death of his father so suddenly like that captivated people and took them off guard. And they related to it. And to be able to do it sitting on stage in front of the recreation of the house on East Park was … I was home every night doing the show.

LB Mag: Any plans to bring it back to Broadway in the future?

Crystal: No. I think after we filmed it for HBO, I felt it was time to move on. I had done almost 500 shows, performances of it all around the country, two years on Broadway, a seven-week tour of Australia. My only regret with the show is that I never got to London with it — I really wanted to do that. ...[W]e have a couple of movies, and a stand-up tour is in the works.