Has Lady Gaga purchased a house in Lancaster County?
Admittedly, it sounds far-fetched. A Grammy Award-winning singer and Forbes’ top-earning female superstar of the year — earning $90 million a year — buying a home in south-central Pennsylvania.
The rumor that she’s bought a house or is house hunting is all the buzz on social media sites Twitter and Facebook.
It’s also a hot topic around the bar at the Bulls Head Public House in Lititz, where Lady Gaga was spotted leaving in September.
“If she’s going to live in the area, I’d like her to come and live here in peace,” said Melissa Otto of Penn Township.
Ever since the singer, whose real name is Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta, quietly — but not completely unnoticed — slipped into Lancaster County at least three times this fall, residents have been going gaga for Gaga.
The Billboard 2010 Artist of the Year is dating actor Taylor Kinney, a 2000 graduate of Lancaster Mennonite High School, who has family in Lancaster. The two met while filming the singer’s “You and I” music video. Kinney plays Mason Lockwood on “The Vampire Diaries.”
A few days before Thanksgiving, a photo of Lady Gaga shopping at the Giant store in Lititz surfaced. The singer donned a long camel coat and — the one dead giveaway to her identity — a pair of her trademark monstrous high heels.
According to Giant spokesman Chris Brand, Giant was given no warning the singer would be in the store.
“That was a total and pleasant surprise,” he said.
There’s also a YouTube video circulating of Gaga at a Lancaster County shooting range.
Earlier in November, she was spotted at 915 Cafe on North Plum Street in Lancaster. Gaga was first seen in Lancaster in September when she dined at the Log Cabin Restaurant in Warwick Township and at the Bulls Head Public House.
The small British pub connects to the General Sutter Inn near the square in Lititz. One of its bartenders, Brett Pendyck, was working the night Lady Gaga took a seat at a corner table with two well-dressed gentlemen. She ordered Jameson Irish Whiskey.
She went unnoticed.
“I didn’t realize it was her,” Pendyck said. “When she was leaving someone came in and said ‘That was Lady Gaga.’ People still come in saying, ‘Is Lady Gaga here? Is Lady Gaga here?’ ”
The pop queen calls her fans little monsters. She is known for her outrageous outfits, including as a dress made of meat, her sky-high heels and lobster hats.
“She is an extreme performer. I’m sure when she’s out in public she’s not extreme. She comes off as a normal person who is not recognized,” said Lechelle Hendershott of Kauai, Hawaii. She was in town visiting her brother who works at the Bulls Head.
Lititz is an all-American town. Its rows of specialty shops, such as the Purple Turtle, Dosie Dough and Teddy Bear Emporium attract tourists.
The town is home to Wilbur Chocolate, maker of Wilbur Buds; Woodstream, which makes Victor mousetraps; and Lititz Watch Technicum, an educational facility where students learn watchmaking.
Its residents are not unaccustomed to celebrity sightings.
MSNBC’s Mika Brzezinski, co-host of the “Morning Joe” weekday morning show, calls Lititz home when she’s not working in New York City. She frequently stops by Cafe Chocolate of Lititz along Main Street, where her photograph is on display.
Those who grew up in Lititz in the 1970s and ’80s recall heading to Clair Brothers after school on their bikes to hear bands such as Yes practice.
Now called Clair Global, it is one of the biggest rock sound-system companies in the country. It joins another giant in the industry, Tait Towers, a stage-building and designing company, in calling Lititz home.
The two companies have worked with the biggest names in the business, including Bruce Springsteen, Madonna and the Rolling Stones. In the past, it was not unusual for celebrities to come in and out of town under the radar.
Billy Joel once made a stop, and so did U2’s Bono. Howard Jones and Joan Jett performed concerts about 20 years ago, when the borough’s recreation center opened.
“I remember a time when Kenny Rogers was spotted on Main Street. I recall the folks who spotted him didn’t even ask him for his autograph,” Lititz Mayor Ronald G. Oettel said.
“It’s just folks in a small town like Lititz tend to really respect the fact these folks are there, in part to get away from what they deal with on a day-to-day basis,” he added.
Still, Oettel recognizes the star power of Lady Gaga.
“When you take a celebrity of international status and put her in the little town of Lititz, it creates a stir,” he said.
A Facebook page called Lady Gaga Spotting in Lancaster is dedicated to sightings. A recent entry addressed Gaga’s supposed house hunting.
“There’s rumors that Gaga is looking for a house in the county, anyone hear anything?”
The guesses as to where she has bought a house include Bent Creek, a gated community in Manheim Township just outside of Lititz where homes are priced from $500,000 to more than $1 million.
Past rumors that Gaga was buying homes in the Hamptons, Martha’s Vineyard and Scotland were not true. But Lancaster is ready to welcome Gaga to the neighborhood.
“Everyone I talked to, it’s, ‘Wow, Lady Gaga is in Lancaster,’ ” said Angie Winters of Brickerville.
“A lot of people think she’s a little bit out there, but I love her,” Winters said.
Anyone expecting to see Lady Gaga in Lancaster for Christmas will be disappointed. She’s in Japan, according to her posts on Twitter. She won’t be stateside until Dec. 31, in time to perform for “Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve.”
