How about arborvitae, but make every 5th or 6th plant a Wichita or Moonglow juniper; sheared also, but maybe a foot taller like blue foliage pillars at intervals?

This is not at all helpful to the original poster, but I found this yesterday while looking for red Christmas lights (planning experiment with some tomato plants this summer)and it cracked me up. "Dura Hedge" is artificial greenery that you weave into a chainlink fence. "The Dura Hedge is also perfect for people who want to decorate their backyard with some of the beauty of nature without attracting so many of its bugs."

Here is a link that might be useful: Artificial hedge

Thanks for the suggestion MD. Personally I'd like to try it, but the wife isn't on board yet. She wants it just arborvitae, straight and neat. I want something that isn't so monotonous for our area, but similarly easy to maintain. Is there any possibility of a compromise? Thanks again.

Ilex crenata 'Sky Pencil' or Euonymus japonicus 'Green Spire' will present a similar, narrow columnar form easily maintained at 5-6'. Sky Pencil will remian pretty skinny - you may need too many of these to be equally as effective for privacy screening as the arborvitae. For something well-suited to our climate but preferring full sun, consider Pacific wax myrtle, Myrica californica. It will grow both taller and wider that the previous suggestions, but is easily pruned to shape and native to the west coast.