The West End lies on Vancouver's downtown peninsula between Stanley Park and the main Downtown area. Residents of the area enjoy a high quality of life both because of the Park and because of the areas many trees and beaches. West End residents include large number of international students as well as Vancouver's gay and lesbian community. Most people in this part of Vancouver walk to work or school.

The area is one of the densest in North America and is often called Vancouver's version of Manhattan. Close to 50,000 people call the West End home making it roughly the same population as the other half of Vancouver's downtown. At the turn of the century the West End was a community of mostly large houses. During the 1950's, 60's and 70's many apartment buildings were built to take advantage of the great views..

The majority of the buildings in the neighborhood are residential with a mix of small scale stores along the major streets of Denman, Davie and Robson. These same three main streets are services by two separate bus lines that connect the area with the rest of the city's transit system. Many of the local streets are closed off to cars and trucks but open to people walking and bicycles, even still driving is relatively quick and easy.

Lack of any heavy industry, both on and off land make the West End a very clean place to live. While many cities have heavy industry at or near residential populations, Vancouver remains somewhat different. A lack of any large manufacturing base means the vast majority of the city's pollution comes from transportation and is on average much lower than many other cities of comparable size.