What's the best place to live in San Francisco near Golden Gate Park or anywhere else?

You answer will probably be, the area that you can afford...it might not be the area that's your first choice. If you're buying, then get in contact with a real estate agent and let them know your requirements and they can advise best. If you're renting, then find a rental company that can do the same.

Parks like Alamo Square and the Panhandle are fine if you live in the area and they're convenient, but I certainly wouldn't move near one for the sake of being near it. Alamo Square is very small - only the size of 4 city blocks, mostly open lawns that people use to picnic, as well as a children's playground and tennis courts monopolising a portion of that measly 4 blocks. It does have a dog run area, but it's also quite small and would probably get boring (for you and your dog) very quickly. The Panhandle is only 1 block wide and has extremely busy/dangerous streets on each side, and lots of bicycle traffic within the park itself. So it's also obviously not ideal. The best place to live would be the NW portion of the city, the Richmond District. It's surrounded on 3 sides by parks: Golden Gate Park to the South, Ocean Beach to the West, and Lands End and the Presidio to the North. As well as various other sub-parks (Sutro Heights Park and Sutro Baths bordering Ocean Beach, Baker Beach and Mountain Lake Park within/joined with the Presidio, etc...). Just look at a map of the city (http://maps.google.com/ should do just fine) and you'll see for yourself. Lots of options for you and your dog, and different terrains, etc... (and, if you really want to go to a boring dog run area from time to time, there's one in GG Park bordering the Richmond District). The neighborhood is definitely safe and clean and all that and mostly smaller/non-chain shops and restaurants and grocery stores/markets (also, high Asian and Eastern European populations, so lots of it is very unique). Some parts are more placid than others, but as far as business districts go: Clement between Arguello and Funston (very Asian, tons of restaurants, markets, etc...), Geary between Funston and about 25th Ave (very E European), Balboa between about 33rd and 38th or so, and to a lesser extent Balboa between about 3rd and Funston all seem to have what you're looking for (business districts, lots of neighborhoody restaurants, shops, markets, an occasional bar (esp. on Geary) etc... but still pretty quaint and quiet once you get off the main strips. And of course, all are very easy access to several great parks. Another area, if you can afford it, is in Upper Market/Haight Ashbury Heights area (Upper Haight, especially roughly along Haight between Divisadero and Masonic, is a bit cheaper and convenient to these places, too), which is very pretty and close to Buena Vista Park, Corona Heights Park, and also easy access to the Upper Haight and Cole Valley business districts (and not too far from the Castro, Divisadero St, etc...). The parks are both very nice, but not as huge as the above mentioned. Also, the Glen Park/Diamond Heights/Forest Hill Extension area is very nice for parks (Glen Canyon and Mount Davidson are both some of the nicest in the city), but kinda sucks if you also wanna be close to restaurants, bars, etc...

The best neighborhood by the Park is the Inner Sunset.