My parents in Metairie have red tips (photinea) all around their back yard and they are fast grwoing and evergreen and can be pruned to be two feet wide. I also like loropetalum, but their shape is more like a crepe myrtle. They are also evergreen. I have some that were eighteen inch round balls that I planted two years ago and they are now over eight feet tall. They top out around ten to twelve feet and can be easily pruned. It might be hard for you to find them the size you want, but they grow really fast. (These are easily available most springs at the box stores and may be available out of town at box stores.) I also have two viburnum shrubs (I don't know the exact species) that I obtained from Wal Mart that are evergreen and very fast growing shrubs. The leaf texture is similar to a japanese plum but smaller. These were also purchased as a 1 gallon a few years ago and are over eight feet tall and can be easily pruned. They are against my house and they are easily pruned to keep them out of the walkway. There are some good nurseries by me in Lafourche Parish Louisiana if you are interested in driving, it will take you about forty five minutes from the airport. You can email me if you are interested and I can give you the names of the nurseries. You could call ahead to see what their stock is like. I don't know what is in stock but Perino's on Veterans is open per my mother.

Thanks so much Lisa. Those are excellent suggestions and I'll check them out. I hadn't even thought about WalMart but I did check out Home Depot on the Westbank. They didn't have much in the way of shrubbery.
I'm going by Perino's next week to get some garden clogs and I'll check out the variteies you mentioned.
Thanks again.

Linda, are you still posting? What did you end up planting?

I've been researching the same thing today. Have two areas in my yard where I'd like to screen the view. Loropetalum is at the top of my list. Also curious about Pittosporum.

I ended up planting bamboo. I got the Alphonse Karr variety, which is a clumping bamboo and doesn't send up any runners. It just grows up, and up, and up.

Here's what it looked like in August when I first planted it:

It's already sent up shoots that are over the top of the neighbor's window you see in the picture. They won't leaf out until the spring, but I think I can hang in there until then to get complete coverage that the neighbors can't mess up by trimming off branches like they did with my hollies. Here's what it will look like:

They're gonna hate me!

OMG, I thought all bamboos were runners. So even worst case scenario and you decide you don't like it, it's easy to dig up and get rid of? Sounds too good to be true, but it's definitely something I need to look into. And the lagniappe would be that hummers love bamboo. Thank you!!!

BTW, your view of the neighbor is much more pleasant than mine, but it looks like you have a porch that overlooks that view so I can understand the desire for privacy.

This next summer I'm going to put in some t-posts and string 3 or 4 strands of wire along my property line.. This will resemble a farm fence. I'm going to grow Conferederate Jasmine on this fence (which I'll call a trellis so nobody complains). Confederate jasmine is dense, grows fast and is evergreen, plus it the blooms smell great.