Is the wall in full sun or shade? which direction does it face? What didn't you like about the Creeping Fig?

The wall is west-facing and partially shaded by a large tree and some camellia bushes. The creeping fig was a relatively innocuous wall-covering. The neighbors are replacing it because it grew too unwieldy throughout their back yard. We're zone 9b, btw. After some research, I've come up with star jasmine and lilac vine as alternatives. We asked about night-blooming jasmine, but the neighbors have that in their front yard and don't like how it's encroaching on their other vines (red trumpet?). The closest window to the wall is our master bedroom, and we really like the scent of the jasmine as it wafts in the morning. Maybe something similar but with a different blooming season?

The options you mentioned will all need support.

good to know. Any recommendations that don't need support?

I was thinking of a bougainvillea.

I'm allergic to all jasmine, and so I consider that a bad choice. Also, most vines that you can grow will have dead leaves that will rot and make mildew. The creeping fig is the best choice IMO, and I would put it back. It's what I have now, and there is a reason that so many people choose it. I've had passion vines and honeysuckle, but they both made huge messes on the walls, although I did like the honeysuckle flowers, and I liked the passion fruit, but the passion vine created the worst messes with dead leaves. Another choice would be trumpet vine, which makes nice flowers and somewhat less of a mess, but it does need a lot of pruning. I don't remember how much support either of these required, but I think the trumpet vine attaches itself to walls without much support. I would never grow jasmine or passion vines again, due to the debris that they create and the allergy I have to jasmine.

I used to have a Golden Chalice vine in Venice (aka Solandra maxima), and I think it will survive in zone 9b, but it does not do well if the temperature gets below 28°. I also think it needs some support. It's very easy to control and is not invasive.

I also really like the creeping fig. The only issue that i find is that it has to be trimmed. I trim it very close to the supporting structure and it looks neat, tidy and textural. I love the smell of the jasmines (both true jasmine and Trachelospermum, which is called star jasmine) but as noted, they need support. Also, true jasmine ends up making such a huge plant that it is pretty common to get bird and rodent nests within it. And there is a lot of debris.

There are some great Parthenocissus. P. henryana is bronze and P. tricuspidata 'Fenway Park' is golden. They are self-supporting and not messy, but unlike the fig, they are deciduous.

Although P henryana is self supporting it doesn't grow very flat to the wall. It is also potentially enormous. Ours grows five storeys up the back of our house, is full of birds nests, which we love, and needs pruning three or four times a year, which we don't love. It is only bronze on new growth and is bronze purple with white veining in shade. In the sun it's just green. Perhaps it behaves differently in Ca.

The first question is why they removed the fig - what the problem was. Because anything they choose as a replacement that has the same characteristic(s) is just going to recreate the original situation.

They stated that it was too rambunctious (my synonym). It just needs to be pruned Once a year. Heavily. Floral I think our dryness may keep the Parthenocissus more sedate. And mine are in shade, sun and combo and are all bronze.

It needs to be found out just exactly what the neighbor is looking for, what isn't "too big" (in terms of feet) and whatever else prompted them to take the fig out and start over. Because they could so easily end up with another clinging climber that repeats the previous experience. Including kinds that have been suggested here, among which there are ones that grow 60 ft. tall.

This may be a job for a mural!

If by the reference to a trumpet vine, Campsis radicans was the suggestion, I would seriously caution against it !! It is NOT self-supporting and in fact requires a pretty heavy duty support system. It also is a very aggressive spreader by root shoots, constantly sending up trumpet vine saplings at a considerable disance away from the mother plant. And if one chooses to remove, it is a major and often long term effort!! Hummingbirds love the flowers but it is a big, unwieldy and very messy vine that requires almost constant attention.

OTOH, a creeping fig is extremely manageable :-)

I used to help prune once per year at a local historic mansion built into a hillside. One of the routine jobs was to get the Campsis that had long since glued itself to the main, multi-story side of the house off the roof.

"Campsis radicans (L.) Bureau

Trumpet vine. A tall, strong-growing species that normally climbs by aerial roots"

--The Hillier Manual of Trees & Shrubs (2014, Royal Horticultural Society, London)

I don't much care what it says in the books....plants do not read the books :-) I've grown this vine myself and against a pretty solid wooden privacy fence and at no time did it attempt to adhere by producing aerial roots. And even if it did "normally" produce them, I doubt a relatively smooth stuccoed wall would offer enough of a grip to support what will become a very large and very heavy woody vine. Even climbing hydrangeas, which produce aerial roots in abundance up and down the stems, are not self-supporting on a smooth surface.

OP here. The neighbors are getting the now-bare walls of the garage painted while they can, and they plan on replanting something in a few weeks. Would it be uncouth to recommend that they replace the creeping fig (which they didn't like) with a new creeping fig? If not, what's my second best option?

Is there room to plant a tall narrow tree (Silver sheen?) instead of a vine?

I doubt a relatively smooth stuccoed wall would offer enough of a grip

https://www.bing.com/images/search?view=detailV2&id=FDC43F05895A4CD96A6C0B0D83C0BD0CF4BE50D5&thid=OIP.bXwQQZOFOqPFSd8a0szb9QHaHa&mediaurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.dutchbulbs.co.uk%2Fcsp%2Fparkers%2Fproducts%2Fopt3%2Flarge%2F0001758.jpg&exph=400&expw=400&q=campsis+radicans+growing+on+walls&selectedindex=234&ajaxhist=0&vt=0&eim=2

Perhaps something other than a vine -- maybe a row of fastigate evergreens?

Bamboo!!!!! (just kidding hahaha)

Bamboo is not at all a bad suggestion. You just need to select a clumping rather than a running bamboo. Or install using a root barrier.

And if you mean Pittosporum tenuifolium 'Silver Sheen', this like many other pitts have been experiencing signficant die off in SoCal in recent years due to a soil borne pathogen. And is really a large growing shrub rather than a tree :-)

Boston Ivy Parthenocissus tricuspidata is a wall-clinger. About every three years I pull it all off the walls and cut it all to the ground. Keeps it under control. It then grows back onto the walls. Makes the walls look like a hedge all summer. It is deciduous not evergreen.

With bamboo keep in mind not all of them grow vertically, some will arch outwards and take up quite a lot of space. Leaf litter is copious.

My dad had a Campsis radicans which climbed his brick house walls unaided. It also came up through the concrete floor of the garage......

Brick is a much more heavily textured surface than is stucco.

I have creeping fig, trumpet vine and Star Jasmine all mixed together on one 6' property line wood wall topped with 3ft lattice. I planted the creeping fig and the neighbor planted the others. In Los Angeles, so same area as OP. I can tell you that the creeping fig is by far the best choice as it's very clean with no mess and gives uniform coverage. The Jasmine is nice too but only supported by the fence and other plants on the wall and does not support itself, same with the trumpet vine which is very messy from leaf and flower die off . It's also quite aggressive attaching itself to nearby trees. At one point I let it go up on the two story building and it literally covered the entire side! Ended up removing.

Brick is a much more heavily textured surface than is stucco.

Although I agree that additional support will be necessary for most non-creeping fig choices, the above statement seems backwards. I've lived in more an a few stucco SoCal homes. Maybe it is textured differently here than in other areas, but the stucco has more texture than brick.

Anybody visit the SD Botanical Garden's bamboo section? Nice! View of ocean.