Mark Paolucci loves art enough to gut a portion of his office space to create a gallery.

The president of marketing firm Paolucci Communication Arts in Palos Verdes even helped San Pedro artist Mike Rivero create his own gallery.

Paolucci visited Rivero’s studio, which doubled as his home, and was surprised to discover the artist’s poor

living conditions.

“He was down to his last box of cornflakes,” Paolucci, 53, said. “His studio evolved into a storage space. He had boxes all over the place, bikes against the wall, old furniture and shoes lying around.”

Paolucci grabbed his friends and they spent two weekends and a couple of thousand dollars cleaning out the studio – painting walls, adding light fixtures and hanging up art work.

After the renovation, Rivero held an art show at his studio in May. His paintings have sold on eBay for $75; his works drew $1,500 at the show, said Paolucci.

Now, Rivero uses his space to showcase not only his work but other artists’ pieces, and he is gearing up for an art show early next year at Paolucci’s gallery.

Counter Intuitive

During the week, Lonnie Giamela works as a labor and employment attorney in the downtown L.A. office of Fisher & Phillips. But on some weekends, you’ll find him helping out around a hole-in-the-wall sandwich shop in Burbank.

The shop, Giamela’s Submarine Sandwiches, was founded by his late grandmother in 1967, and has since grown into a six-store operation co-owned by his father and uncle. Lonnie worked there during summer and winter breaks beginning at age 16 and through law school, and plans to take the reins of the family business eventually.

One or two weekends a month, Giamela, 35, still joins his father at the Burbank location to talk and help out. To neophytes, he recommends the pepper steak sandwich, which he describes as a mix of “great Italian bread, finely prepared and cured meat and cheese and a little bit of Italian love.” Plus, “you won’t have to eat the rest of the day.”

Giamela – who is an employment attorney, after all – was silent on whether he mans the counter from time to time.

“I’ll plead the fifth on that one,” he said. “I don’t get paid.”