IVIV (1) Surface Streets

[David Payne]

On Mon, 24 Aug 2009 (15:17:03 -0500) Dave Monroe (against.the.dave at gmail.com) wrote:

> ... I was wondering, vs.
> "underground"? E.g., W.A.S.T.E.? Et soforthiam ...

 
But I think that you're on the right track (groan) - only I'd say surface vs. above rather vs. below. Surely the origin of the phrase is streets on the surface of the city as opposed to freeways that tend to be elevated?
 
cf, "...the panoramic sense of black impoverishment is hard to miss from atop the Harbor Freeway, which so many whites must drive at least twice every working day. Somehow it occurs to very few of them to leave at the Imperial Highway exit for a change, go east instead of west only a few blocks, and take a look at Watts. A quick look. The simplest kind of beginning. But Watts is country which lies, psychologically, uncounted miles further than most whites seem at present willing to travel.
On the surface anyway, the Deadwyler affair hasn't made it look any different, though underneath the mood in Watts is about what you might expect." - Pynchon, A Journey into the Mind of Watts (http://www.themodernword.com/pynchon/pynchon_essays_watts.html)
 
Also, Oed's dark night on the surface streets. She's no longer above it all in a tower ... she's right there in it all. 
 
Do the Chums do the opposite? Gradually soar off from the harsh realities of Earth?
 
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