The building survived in altered form until 1960 as an RKO movie theater, after which it was replaced by part of Penn South, an urban renewal housing development.

[7][3]: 599 Jim Fisk and Jay Gould bought Pike's theater in January 1869 and renamed it the Grand Opera House.

"The house was considered, in theatrical parlance, a 'Jonah', and it was almost impossible to find any respectable manager who would take it," according to theater critic Thomas Allston Brown.

When John F. Poole (1833–1893)[8] and Thomas Lester Donnelly (1832–1880) rented the theatre in the Autumn of 1876, with the proviso that "a small percentage of the profits should go to the Erie Railway company".

The new management lowered the price of admission and catered to the popular tastes of New York's "west side": Uncle Tom's Cabin (in blackface) and Buffalo Bill were among the first season's attractions; theatrical productions were accompanied by "specialty acts".