Do not apologize for your bungalow! They are wonderful. It's great you are taking up the challenge of restoring one. 'Silver Sheen' is a gorgeous airy tree, but it struggles away from the coast. SFV I think it might be too hot for it, but look around your neighborhood and see if any are growing and thriving nearby. If you see some that have been there more than five years and look great, a definite option. For the dense area I would look at Syzygium paniculatum, which for decades was the ideal narrow screening plant for Southern California; this all changed when a psyllid arrived that ruins the foliage, HOWEVER, the state released a psyllid-predator that seems to be keeping the psyllid under decent control; you get some damaged foliage, but not enough to make the plant look particularly bad or kill it off. Let them grow to the height of your neighboring apt building or a few feet shorter, then top and shear as a hedge. Quite drought-tolerant once established and do not plant too close to the fence, 4 or 5' apart and at least 4' from your fence. If you keep them topped and trimmed, they will be happy and well-behaved for decades to come. The Syzygium you see would be historical to the youth and middle age of that bungalow. A another really classic choice would be Hollywood Juniper, Juniperus chinensis 'Torulosa', which was so popular 1920-1970 it got named after Hollywood. Another historical choice for the dense portion, if you can sacrifice some space, would be citrus trees, which are also beautiful ornamental trees--a lot of people forget that, not to mention the out-of-this-world fragrance of the blossoms. They made nice screens and do not get too tall (avoid grapefruit--they can get huge, unless you get one on dwarfing rootstock). Choose a citrus you are going to enjoy eating, not an oddity with fruit you don't know what to do with. For the airy, you have a lot more choice. Look at some small, choice palms (NOT trashy, reseeding-everywhere-pest Washingtonias, which end up costing a fortune to trim and are habitat for rat infestations, avoid!). For example the Mexican blue palm, Brahea armata. Some of the smaller Crape Myrtles are lovely. See "patio trees" section in the Sunset Western Garden Book for more. Your lot is probably too small for a larger tree and a large tree with ruin the look of your bungalow by overwhelming it proportionally. Medium shrubs (20-30') can make excellent shade and screen for bungalow properties.

Probably too late for you, but my husband always says we should use spar varnish (the kind people use on boats) on outdoor wood. Of course, he has never actually gotten around to using it after he bought it and now our deck surface needs replacing, but that is another story altogther! signed, another 50ish-soon-to-be60ish DIYer with more time than brains :)

You don't seem to be getting much joy here, so you might want to search the California Forum which seems fairly active. I went to the CA forum and did a search in the top box "Search in GardenWeb" with the word "shrubs" and chose the option that popped up for limiting the search to the California Forum. Here's one thread that popped up that might be useful to you. I didn't check beyond that, though there were many other threads that looked like they might help, but often a search will give you a bunch of info that pertains to your situation. Since you know your situation best, it helps if you give as much information as possible, such as you want to have the center of the yard available for family activities (as you stated two posts up) or you have a dog that likes to patrol the border or . . . A few general comments: If you use a mix of plants with clusters and repetition of plants along the wall, it will give you some variety and if one plant dies, you don't have to search for an exact replacement since there is already variety in the mix. I wouldn't do one huge block of one type and another huge block of another type - that always looks awkward to me and has the same issue of replacement as well as if a disease takes them all out, you are left with nothing, whereas a mixed shrub border rarely all dies at once. Consider small trees with branches that will reach above the wall as part of the mix to vary the height so that it doesn't end up feeling like a fortress of green. You might also want to consider vines on a trellis along with shrubs and small trees. Trust me, plants really won't add noise screening, though your wall will; I just want you to have realistic expectations. (I live in the boonies where in places there is something like 1/4 mile of woods between me and traffic, and noise decreases due to distance but not any different due to taller plants vs. open field.) If you can add to the top of the wall, that will improve sound screening a bit, or you can add ambient noise to your yard that may distract, such as a small water feature with dropping water (perhaps not appropriate in your arid climate) or plants that rustle when the wind blows. The plants will provide visual privacy, however, and that seems to be your main focus, and will add appeal to the wall from both sides once they reach over the top. How far to put them away from the wall depends on several factors, including how big the wall's underground foundations are; how wide the shrub is supposed to get (take half of the shrub's reported width and since this is given usually at 5-10 years, add a couple of feet since it will usually get larger) and this will be the distance from the wall to aim for; and how much time you want to put into pruning in order to maintain that width. It's a long stretch of wall, and it sounds like you have a family, so you probably want to choose something that doesn't need a lot of trimming. Another maintenance thing to consider is water. Since many areas now have watering restrictions in CA, I'd plant things that will be OK if you can't water them at all for a season. They will need water the first season while they establish, but after that should be able to survive without. Plan on using mulch (I am not sure what type is appropriate for your area, since although organic mulches such as chopped leaves or shredded bark is most appropriate here, I often see inorganics such as gravel used in low water areas.) Ask on the CA forum once you have your plants chosen which mulch would be best in your area. Mulch will help reduce weeds and increase moisture retention. Good luck. I'd love to see what you end up with. PS - I'd also add your location and zone to your profile so it posts along with your name. That way everyone knows where you are before opening your thread, and you may get more helpful responses. Here's how: Go to Your Houzz in upper right of every page, click Edit Profile, and on the left side click advanced settings. Well down the advanced settings page is a blank labeled Climate Zone for Garden Forums along with a link to find your zone. If you add info on your state or the nearest large city you will get even better information since zone only relates to average coldest winter temperatures. Then return to the top of the page and click Done Editing.

Just getting back to this now. The plant on he left is a wonderful thriving but unruly-looking lemon tree. I’m not sure the variety but it has been producing delicious juicy lemons since December (all our friends and neighbors have been well supplied!). I’m not sure whether I should prune it for appearance since it’s thriving so well. The green “stuff” on the right is a big mess of things - in winter we discovered a nice flowing quince behind, covered with brambles, an old grape vine, and underneath some aloes and some yucky invasive species. There’s some kind of fruit tree in there maybe peach or plum but it’s gone wild, and an apple tree sapling planted in front. All in about 10x10’. We removed some of the brambles and invasive but for now left the rest so we don’t have to look at the neighbor’s deck there. We ended up planting a toyon, a coffeeberry and a Ray Hartman along that fence line. The lemon tree will stay but I hope to gradually prune back the sad stone-fruit tree and remove it as the toyon replaces it, and I should probably transplant the apple tree and the grapevine to a more suitable location this fall after they go dormant. We had too much more pressing to do on the house last fall/winter. Will I likely kill them if I try to transplant?