Growing up in New York State we took the town structure for granted. It was not until I moved away that I realized its peculiarities. Monroe County, a typical NY county is divided into towns (and villages and a city). The City of Rochester ("the hub of Monroe County") is surrounded by towns and villages. Each town is a small political entity unto itself with elected officials, school system, police and fire departments, etc. Some towns had central areas - commercial centers or town centers. Once you get away from this town structure you realize just how expensive it is to duplicate all these services so many times for such small populations. Chili, like other second ring towns, was a little different. On the west side of Rochester, once removed from the city limits (by the town of Gates), it was the boondocks in the 50's. Not populated enough to support its own town services, it shared a high school with Gates (Gates-Chili High School), and another with Churchville (Churchville-Chili HS), and it did not have its own police force.
On entering Chili heading west on Chili Avenue, there is a sign that says "Welcome to Chili -- Home of Little Guy Soccer". I have no idea what Little guy soccer was/is. I know I never heard of soccer until I was in high school and even then it was a sport that had a "foreign" aura... coached by guys with European accents.
Besides the Grange, Chili had little to offer in terms of teenage activities in the 60's. Chili Center had a library, baseball fields, and ice-skating rink. There were no stores except for a supermarket and drugstore. Westgate plaza was a mecca for us westsider tweens and teens but it was a couple of miles away so we couldn't just hang around there. Maybe the best hangout was Olympic Park on Scottsville Road. There was an old amusement park, bowling alley and most importantly, a pool hall -- and that is where we spent a lot of guy-time from about 8th to 12th grade. I think it used to cost $1.50/hour and the tables were bigger than anyone (we knew) had in their homes.
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