• Greenpoint is the birthplace of Mae West
• The Monitor (first iron-clad ship) was built in Greenpoint (see wikipedia, or hear a song about the Monitor by a local band)
• Charles Pratt builds first modern oil refinery in the US on the shores of the Newtown Creek (see greenpointUSA.com)
• Greenpoint is the birthplace of Pat Benetar (originally Patricia Mae Andrzejewski) (see greenpointusa.com)
• Greenpoint is home to an oil-spill larger than that released in the Exxon-Valdez accident. It still hasn't been cleaned up properly:

• Spill History from Riverkeeper.org
• Map of Spill Area
• Leonard Lopate discusses the spill and greenpoint's pollution (a greenpoint woman thinking about having a child is told by an industrial toxologist to "consider moving")

• The first asian long horned beetle (here too) infestation in the US is discovered in greenpoint in 1996
• Great greenpoint history