Perhaps a shrub border--natural shapes, no trimming,-- would work, but I don't know what would work in SoCal.

Cinder block fencing is long lasting but nothing can stand up to the roots of your 50 ficus:) For a low maintenance, low water use Texas rangers, leucophyllums, keep their leaves year round bloom repeatedly in summer, look good sheared or not and come in a variety of sizes, leaf and flower colors. Also love Texas olive, Cordia boissieri, purple flowers are Rangers and white big leaved shrub is Cordia.

Does this divide your property from a neighbor or hide your home from the public?

From your question I assume privacy is desired? A picture of the site would help. i live in So Cal beach also, we have ficus hedges surrounding our harbor marina, they look great but since you have so many maintence is an issue. Podocarpus gracilior are often planted in our area as hedges. They can grow tall if not topped, but their roots aren’t invasive. I’ve seen them planted along sidewalks to provide privacy for front yard patios ( common where I live). Almost any kind of fencing material works in our mild climate, just a matter of the look you’re going for. Vinyl is very durable & low maintence, they come in more colors & finishes than in years past.

I need to see the wall and without a pic who knows what can work. Post a pic here of the wall and the hedge post in a comment DO NOT start another post. Usually the best id to go to your local garden center to get info as to what can be used for this situation. I have always had hedge un til this house ansd we just did the trimming ourselves $1100 seems expensive to me for a jb that took 1 hr with 130ft of hedge

Bougainvillea

Yes for privacy ...
I want something to grow to a reasonable height 10-12ft and then limited maintenance.

This divides our property with 4 different neighbors - and we trim their portions as well bc of the invasive roots. Therefore maybe it's so expensive to maintain -$1100 per trim

I was told $2500 to remove them all and grind the roots. Is there a chemical to add to stop the roots from growing again.

That actually doesn’t seem like a bad price to remove them. You are already spending $2200 a year.

I know right - just what to replace with is the big question and make sure they get most of the roots ? I hear fencing might be difficult with a wall and will rattle so think planting new hedges will be the best option.

Google Hollywood-style hedges. Your local larger nurseries carry these and they're quite common. I also really like Italian cypress trees as hedges because they are almost zero maintenance.

Well, no trimming anyway.

Fencing isn't nearly as tall as a hedge, though it's nice to have if you have dogs. But you'd still need the landscape to soften the look of the fence, and it won't provide privacy from a 2nd story house nearby. I like a good fence or wall, because crime is increasing in all areas of SoCal, and a latched gate and tall wall or fence (with cameras on top) is better than no fence/wall/gate.

I like wood fencing, but a wall is even nicer if it's within your budget. You can stucco a wall to match your house (if your house is stucco, and it probably is).

Thanks I will look into your recs. I have a short wall (in picture above) matching my stucco. Italian cypress sounds interesting - no trimming really.

You might do well to make the wall taller and call it done. When we were in Torrance the yard was surrounded by an 8ft cement block wall. It had a boarder of roses next to it. There was no maintenance on the wall but the roses gave my dad fits!!

My neighbor topped their I. Cypress mostly due to squirrel infestation. They lost their shape a bit at the top but are doing fine 8 years later. I've actually seen the some of these trees wrapped in netting and I thought it was to get pleasing shape but now I think it might be because of rodents.

I'm going to plant Podocarpus for my socal hedge.

Oh 25 feet is little too big I think plus no to rodents!

Podacarpus grows fast doesn't it?

Once established probably pretty quickly but I have a gardener that will keep it cut back. I'll keep it trimmed to no higher than 7 feet and no wider than 18 inches... over almost 40 feet.