Having grown up on Market Street, Belfast, Bernie Rea was one of the most stylish and naturally gifted humans from the Emerald Isle to ever set foot on a skateboard. The small amount of footage he committed to tape over the years definitely gives you the idea of how easily skateboarding came to him, but it’s the vast amount of stories you hear about Bernie, or things that were witnessed first hand that were never documented, that will live on in Irish skate-lore forever.

First try ollies in the dark that haven’t been touched since, never-ending lines around St Anne’s purely for the sake of, and a certain level of nonchalant command over his board that drew comparisons with a certain floppy-haired Oxfordian lad.

After a solid “Haunts” in 2001, a brief stint on the post “Headcleaner” era Unabomber and several video parts on various MonkeyBird productions, Bernie vanished off into Belfast obscurity in late 00’s, but still reappears at Bridges skatepark every now again, and still has the ability to kill it without even trying.

Check his casual as you like section from the 2004 Unabomber video “Up The Rebels” by clicking the play button below, then head back to the Sidewalk site on Wednesday morning to see Bernie tear up the infamous St Anne’s plaza in the second part of Peter Adam’s amazing “St Anne’s: Full Circle” documentary.