Anna Weinstein was from a German Jewish family that had settled in New York City. Nathanael was her first of three children.

Anna was a strong, independent and intelligent woman. She maintained a good relationship with her oldest son and was supportive of his desire to go to Europe in the 1920s despite her husband's attitude that their son should go to work. West himself would be attracted to strong women.

Anna opposed her son's relationship with a non-Jewish woman and she was disappointed in his first novel, The Dream Life of Balso Snell. She considered it a dirty book and complained that she couldn't show it to her friends. She was more supportive of his Hollywood screen-writing efforts especially since these efforts proved more successful.