In The Art Life, David talks about a pivotal time in his young life when he moved to Philadelphia to go to art school. I wish I had the exact words, but he describes a fear in the air, and he mentions that racism was part of what fueled this fear. He describes a lot of bizarre encounters with disturbed and strange people...and says this atmosphere was great for his art. After some years in Philly, he gets funded to work in California and Eraserhead gets a green light. In California, he imagines the industrial world of Eraserhead, that strange dystopic landscape. The people there are all white (and strange). In Twin Peaks, Cooper begins his FBI career in Philly, the main office where he meets Gordon Cole, and where he has his viewing of Philip Jeffries in Fire Walk With Me. Race, and Philadelphia, are a key influence in Lynch's work--but it is an issue that is always dealt with at a very vast difference. The very first line to Cooper in season 3 from the Giant/Fireman is "you are very far away."