The Ellen DeGeneres Show Invites Hollywood-Favorite Starline Tours to Join her Oscar Week Show - by Driving Lucky Tour Passengers on Stage

Starline Tours, synonymous with celebrity sightseeing in Hollywood, was the star itself this week on NBC's The Ellen DeGeneres Show in Burbank, California.

A planned "hijacking" of a Starline Tours van preparing to depart for a Movie Stars' Homes Tour diverted to the Burbank studio of The Ellen DeGeneres Show. Passengers were surprised to hear the unmistakable voice of Ellen DeGeneres through the tour's headset system, and then see her on a monitor as the van pulled around the corner of the Roosevelt Hotel off of Hollywood Boulevard. They were even more surprised when veteran guide Lisa Staub expertly drove the van through the show's back stage area and on the television show set.

The passengers, from Miami, San Francisco and Montreal, talked with Ellen, received a $100 American Express gift card and danced from their seats with Ellen during commercials. Ellen concluded the appearance by giving Lisa a garage door opener she said belonged to Sandra Bullock to take her passengers by for a visit, and sent an Instagram proclaiming that her version of the famous Hollywood tour was the best ever. Starline Tours' appearance on The Ellen DeGeneres Show is part of the show's celebration of Oscar Week, which she will host on Sunday, March 2 on ABC. The segment may be viewed at: http://youtu.be/jFmlniwRhE0

Ellen DeGeneres seems to have an affinity for Starline Tours and the Movie Stars' Homes Tour. In 2011 she posed as a tour guide (the van was equipped with curtains, cameras and microphones) to give unsuspected tour passengers a unique tour that focused more on gardening than celebrities, but finished up with her surprising them with her appearance. The segment can be viewed at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zw7gIN2hPXw

The concept of celebrity home sightseeing was pioneered by Starline Tours in 1935. The company is regularly used by television and movie crews to signify their location in Hollywood where movie stars are spotted. Starline Tours will celebrate its 80th anniversary in 2015.

Starline Tours

Hollywood's number one celebrity tour company, Starline Tours, is the oldest and largest tour company in Los Angeles, having pioneered the famous Movie Stars' Homes Tour in 1935. A full range of sightseeing tours of Los Angeles and Southern California is available. Starline Tours has been featured on Ellen, American Idol, the Muppet Movies, Iron Man 3, NBC's Today Show, as well as newspapers and travel magazines from around the world. Starline Tours operates the Grand Tour of Los Angeles in nine languages, and the world's largest Hop-On, Hop-Off tour with Starline's CitySightseeing Double-Decker buses offering comprehensive tour narration in nine languages via personal headsets. The open-top Movie Stars' Homes Tour and TMZ Hollywood Tour, recommended by travel agents worldwide, are visitor favorites and operate daily.

Tours to theme parks, movie studios, San Diego and Tijuana are available, with pick up from more than 250 hotels in the Los Angeles. With locations throughout Hollywood, a new Visitor Welcome Center at Hollywood & Highland and a ticket office at (Grauman's) TCL Chinese Theatre at 6925 Hollywood Boulevard, the company also has a sales office on Santa Monica Pier, starting point for the Malibu Movie Stars' Homes Tour, a new Santa Monica Terminal at 11857 Santa Monica Boulevard, and in Anaheim at the Travelodge across from Disneyland Resort. The company is privately owned, will celebrate its 80th anniversary in 2015, and is operated in conjunction with TourCoach - the company's Bus Charter division. For reservations, visit www.starlinetours.com or call toll free 1-800-959-3131 or direct at 1-323-463-3333.