DEARBORN — While the debate about the true economic impact of the movie and TV industries’ continuing visits to Michigan for filming purposes goes on, one local Arab American business owner saw the benefits of the process up close and personal recently at his own Downtown Car Wash facility in August.

Co-owner Sam Olabi welcomed crews from the new drama series Detroit 187, which premiered on Tuesday night on ABC in prime time and is shot at many locations throughout Detroit (although the first episode was shot mostly in Atlanta), to his facility on Thursday, August 26 and ended up being paid an amount he deemed more than fair for the day’s rental.

Above: Downtown Car Wash’s co-owner Sam Olabi poses for a picture with Natalie Martinez, a star of the new ABC show “Detroit 187,” which filmed a scene at his location. Photo courtesy of Sam Olabi

Employees of Downtown Car Wash received double their usual pay despite receiving the day off, and Olabi also received more money than he typically makes on a business day, which helped the Lebanese American a great deal in light of recent struggles due to the continuing economic downturn.

Local policemen, passers-by, and Olabi’s son Hussein were all among those who enjoyed watching the filming of the show, which follows the day-to-day activities of a fictional Detroit Police Department (DPD) homicide unit.

But it almost never happened as Sam Olabi was originally hesitant about the intentions of the camera crew after their first visit.

“I got a call from my brother who runs the place telling me someone’s here with a video camera asking us to use our location,” he said.

“I thought it might be someone trying to take pictures to come back and rob the place or something.”

But employees and customers aware of the show, which has received a ton of local and national press, began telling Olabi that he might have made a mistake, so he made a call to the Highland Park offices of the crew and was assured of the good intentions of the crew. He said one of the show’s executives saw his large car wash facility from his Motor City Casino Hotel room and fancied it as an ideal place for the scene, which will likely run for about 2-3 minutes at the beginning of the show’s fifth episode. The short scene, which involves a murder on the conveyor belt of the car wash, took almost a whole day to shoot beginning at 6 a.m. on August 26. Crews set up additional displays of snack items and 2-liters of Faygo pop before knocking them down to create a mess, making it look as if a major struggle occurred in the store leading up to the murder.

About 200 people in total filmed the episode on the day including numerous Detroit police officers who schooled the actors on the nuances of the DPD, causing a stir among customers who thought a crime had actually occurred at the car wash. The episode is expected to air on Tuesday, October 19 on ABC at 10 p.m.

Olabi and his son had a chance to meet leading actors Jon Michael Hill, Natalie Martinez and others during the filming, 

He also owns other businesses in cities such as Southgate and Canton and said his name was placed on a list as someone to contact for future scenes for the show, scenes he hopes will come to fruition.

“It was pretty exciting and it turned out to be very, very good for the business; it definitely helped me out financially,” he said.