They look like Juniperus chinensis, 'Kaizuka', AKA J. c., 'Torulosa'.
If you feel you have to prune them because of space constraints, cut off the whole offending branch where it originates, rather than trim the ends. If they have enough room they are usually better off not pruned.
I'm sure others will concur.
Mike

This post was edited by mikebotann on Thu, Jan 22, 15 at 12:34

prune them like any other conifer ...

and definitely NOT like a shrub ...

which mike alluded too

ken

'Kaizuka' is a synonym of var. torulosa.

Hey Hollywood! I have one of these but it looks sad compared to yours! Great specimens.

Did you mean Hooray for Hollywood(s)? They get a lot bigger than this, circumstances permitting.

..that screwy ballyhooey Hollywood....apt, eh?

Thanks bboy. In the old days everybody I knew called them Hollywoods. Variety torolusa it is.
I think it's one of the better looking Junipers.
I had a variegated one, but it grew straight up rather than the curvy, twisted look of the torolusa. It never looked good, especially where it was at, and wasn't worth the effort to move it to someplace else where it would look bad, so I cut it down.
Here's one my neighbor down the road has.
Mike

Indication of var. torulosa as preferred name was from Jacobson, North American Landscape Trees (1996, Ten Speed Press). RHS Database on the other hand is going with 'Kaizuka' these days.

Here is a link that might be useful: Search for plants in the RHS Horticultural Database / RHS Gardening

This post was edited by bboy on Wed, Jan 28, 15 at 14:42