We study the Das-Jevicki collective field description of arbitrary classical solutions in the c = 1 matrix model, which are believed to describe nontrivial spacetime backgrounds in 2d string theory. Our analysis naturally includes the case of a Fermi droplet cosmology: a finite size droplet of Fermi fluid, made up of a finite number of eigenvalues. We analyze properties of the coordinates in which the metric in the collective field theory is trivial, and comment on the form of the interaction terms in these coordinates.